Customized integrated pricing packages for freight shipment

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods include generating an integrated pricing package that incorporates attributes associated with a freight shipment that are updated and analyzed in real-time. Embodiments of the present disclosure relate updating in real-time carrier attributes associated with a carrier. The carrier attributes are associated with each different transportation platform provided by the carrier and fluctuate depending on an availability of each different transportation platform. The carrier attributes are also analyzed in real-time to determine which carrier attributes apply to each freight shipment. The customized pricing parameters for each freight shipment are generated by integrating the carrier attributes that apply to each freight shipment and are customized to each freight shipment based on the real-time update and analysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes that apply to each freight shipment. Each integrated pricing package is provided to each freight client that incorporate the customized pricing parameters.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Applicationwhich claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Appl. No. 62/597,157, filedDec. 11, 2017 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Carriers incorporate a complicated weave of logistics to fulfill thetransport needs of freight clients requesting to have their freightshipments transported. Carriers are limited in their fleet resources inthat carriers have a fixed number of trucks, trains, ships, and/orplanes at their disposal for freight transportation and there is a fixedcost incurred by the carriers each time the carriers send a fleetresource to execute a delivery. Thus, carriers strive to have each fleetresource loaded to capacity to maximize their profits. Each deliverythat is loaded at less than capacity results in the carriers earningless profit due to the fixed cost in executing the delivery.

Once a carrier has agreed to transport a freight shipment between twolocations, the carrier has also incurred the fixed cost for sending thefleet resource to execute the delivery of the freight shipment. In orderto maximize the profits in executing the delivery to offset the fixedcost, the carrier may offer discounts to entice freight clients thatalso have freight shipments that are to be transported between the twolocations to enlist the carrier to transport their freight shipments aswell. Conventionally, the carrier independently contacts each freightclient to solicit the discount. Such independent solicitation immenselyslows down what is typically an automated logistic management systemimplemented by both the carriers and the freight clients. Thus, theautomated communication of and acceptance of discounts generated inreal-time to each freight client of a carrier significantly increasesthe efficiency of the already complicated weave of logistics of freightshipment transportation.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the automatedcommunication of and acceptance of discounts for the transportation offreight shipments that are generated in real-time to account for thecurrent state of the different transportation platforms provided by thecarrier to provide customized discounts for each freight shipment. Asystem may be implemented to generate an integrated pricing package thatincorporates attributes associated with a freight shipment that areupdated and analyzed in real-time to provide a plurality of customizedpricing parameters included in an integrated pricing package. The systemincludes at least one processor and a memory coupled with the processor.The memory includes instructions that when executed by the processorcause the processor to receive a plurality of requests from a pluralityof freight clients to generate the integrated pricing package for eachrequest. The processor is configured to update in real-time a pluralityof carrier attributes associated with a carrier that is transportingeach freight shipment for each freight client. The carrier attributesare associated with each different transportation platform provided bythe carrier and fluctuate depending on an availability of each differenttransportation platform. The processor is configured to analyze inreal-time the plurality of carrier attributes associated with thecarrier to determine the carrier attributes that apply to each freightshipment requested by each freight client to transport by the carrier.The processor is configured to generate the plurality of customizedpricing parameters for each freight shipment by integrating the carrierattributes that apply to each freight shipment. The customized pricingparameters are customized to each freight shipment based on thereal-time update and analysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes thatapply to each freight shipment. The processor is configured to provideeach integrated pricing package to each freight client that incorporatesthe customized pricing parameters that are customized to each freightshipment.

In an embodiment, a method generates an integrated pricing package thatincorporates attributes associated with a freight shipment that areupdated and analyzed in real-time to provide a plurality of customizedpricing parameters included in an integrated pricing package. Aplurality of requests may be received from a plurality of freightclients to generate the integrated pricing package for each request. Aplurality of carrier attributes associated with a carrier that istransporting each freight shipment for each freight client may beupdated in real-time. The carrier attributes are associated with eachdifferent transportation platform provided by the carrier and fluctuatedepending on an availability of each different transportation platform.The plurality of carrier attributes associated with the carrier may beanalyzed in real-time to determine the carrier attributes that apply toeach freight shipment requested by each freight client to transport bythe carrier. The plurality of customized pricing parameters may begenerated for each freight shipment by integrating the carrierattributes that apply to each freight shipment. The customized pricingparameters are customized to each freight shipment based on thereal-time update and analysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes thatapply to each freight shipment. The integrated pricing package may beprovided to each freight client that incorporates the customized pricingparameters that are customized to each freight shipment.

Further embodiments, features, and advantages, as well as the structureand operation of the various embodiments, are described in detail belowwith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows an illustration of an intelligent pricing system;

FIG. 2A depicts an example customized display that may be provided byintelligent pricing computing device and customized for each individualfreight client computing device and carrier computing device that may bedisplayed to enable the corresponding freight client and/or carrier toefficiently engage in transport requests;

FIG. 2B depicts an example customized display that may be provided byintelligent pricing computing device and customized for each individualfreight client computing device and carrier computing device that may bedisplayed to enable the corresponding freight client and/or carrier toefficiently engage in transport requests;

FIG. 2C depicts an example customized display that may be provided byintelligent pricing computing device and customized for each individualfreight client computing device and carrier computing device that may bedisplayed to enable the corresponding freight client and/or carrier toefficiently engage in transport requests;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example method of providing anintegrated pricing package;

FIG. 4 is an example intelligent pricing system in which each of thenumerous freight client computing devices may be implemented as a cliententerprise resource planning (ERP) system; and

FIG. 5 is an example intelligent pricing system in which intelligentpricing computing device may inject intelligent pricing into the currentpricing package that exists between each freight client and each carrierfor each transport request.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure generally relate to the updating andanalysis of the current state of the different transportation platforms,such as the different transportation routes that are currently beingoffered by the carrier and the availability of each, to generatecustomized discounts that are automatically communicated to the freightclients. In an example embodiment, a carrier may be offering numerousdifferent transportation platforms to transport freight shipmentsbetween different locations supported by the different transportationplatforms. In order for the carrier to ensure that each of the differenttransportation platforms are loaded to capacity, an intelligent pricingcomputing device may update and analyze in real-time the fluctuatingcarrier attributes, such as the current space available, for each of thedifferent transportation platforms currently available for freightclients to engage to transport their freight shipments.

Based on the real-time update and analysis of the fluctuating currentattributes, the intelligent pricing computing device may generatecustomized pricing parameters, such as discounts, for each freightclient requesting to transport their freight shipments. The customizedpricing parameters account for the current state of the fluctuatingparameters and enables the carrier to offer the appropriate customizedpricing parameters to entice freight clients to utilize the carrier totransport their freight shipments. In doing so, the carrier may be ableincrease the likelihood that each of the different transportationplatforms are filled to capacity resulting in increased profits made bythe carrier transporting each of the freight shipments via the differenttransportation platforms.

In the Detailed Description herein, references to “one embodiment”, an“embodiment”, and “example embodiment”, etc., indicate that theembodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic, by every embodiment may not necessarily include theparticular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrasesare not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic may be described inconnection with an embodiment, it may be submitted that I may be withinthe knowledge of one skilled in art to affect such feature, structure,or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

The following Detailed Description refers to the accompanying drawingsthat illustrate exemplary embodiments. Other embodiments are possible,and modifications can be made to the embodiments within the spirit andscope of this description. Those skilled in the art with access to theteachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications,applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additionalfields in which embodiments would be of significant utility. Therefore,the Detailed Description is not meant to limit the embodiments describedbelow.

System Overview

As shown in FIG. 1, an intelligent pricing system 100 includes anintelligent pricing computing device 190, a carrier attribute database185, a carrier computing device 110, a carrier database 120, a userinterface 130, a freight client computing device 140, a freight clientdatabase 160, and a user interface 170. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 includes a processor 195. Carrier computing device 110includes a processor 115. Freight client computing device 140 includes aprocessor 145.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may be a device that is capableof generating customized pricing parameters for freight shipments basedon the real-time update and analysis of fluctuating carrier attributesthat apply to the freight shipments. Examples of intelligent computingdevice 190 may include a transportation management system, a warehousemanagement system, an organization system, a client enterprise resourceplanning system, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a workstation, aportable computing device, other computing devices such as a laptop, ora desktop computer, cluster of computers, set-top box, a productinventory checking system and/or any other suitable electronic devicethat will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

In an embodiment, multiple modules may be implemented on the samecomputing device. Such a computing device may include software,firmware, hardware or a combination thereof. Software may include one ormore applications on an operating system. Hardware can include, but isnot limited to, a processor, a memory, and/or graphical user interfacedisplay.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide integrated pricingpackages to freight clients that incorporate customized pricingparameters that are customized to each freight shipment. Freight clientsare entities that have freight shipments that are to be transported froma first location to a second location. For example, a freight client maybe a produce distribution company that distributes produce to variousgrocery stores and has a need to transport the produce from theircentral warehouse to each of the various grocery stores. Rather thanhave their own transportation platforms to execute their freightshipments, the freight client may enlist the services of a carrier thatspecializes in transporting freight shipments to different locations. Acarrier is an entity that primarily specializes in transporting freightshipments for numerous freight clients in which the carrier owns a fleetof fleet resources that may be utilized to transport freight shipmentsbetween locations, such as trucks, trains, ships, and/or planes. Thecarrier typically does not have its own need to transport freightshipments, such as a produce distribution company that has a need totransport produce, but rather solicits their fleet resources to numerousfreight clients that do not have their own fleet resources to fulfillthe freight shipment needs of those numerous freight clients.

Carriers typically have numerous fleet resources and in order toincrease the utilization of those fleet resources, carriers typicallyhave numerous freight clients that the carriers rely on to providefreight shipments that are to be transported. Each of those freightclients may have numerous different freight shipments required to betransported in a single day with each of those numerous differentfreight shipments having to be transported between different locationsthus each of the numerous different freight shipments requiringdifferent transportation routes. For example, a carrier may havehundreds of different freight clients that each utilize the numeroustrucks owned by the carrier on a daily basis such that each of thetrucks are constantly transporting different freight shipments betweendifferent locations for the hundreds of different freight clients on adaily basis.

Thus, carriers incorporate a complicated weave of logistics to fulfillthe transport needs of their numerous freight clients requesting to havetheir numerous different freight shipments transported between numerousdifferent locations on a daily basis. In order to incorporate thecomplicated weave of logistics, carriers may constantly interface withthe numerous different freight clients in order to identify thedifferent requests that each of the numerous freight clients have intransporting their numerous different freight shipments. In turn, thecarriers may then constantly interface with their own fleet resources todetermine the different transportation platforms that are available totransport the different freight shipments and which of the differenttransportation platforms would be the most efficient in executing thedifferent freight shipments. A transportation platform is a resourcethat the carrier may utilize to transport a freight shipment asrequested by a freight client. For example, a transportation platform isa truck that the carrier has located in Cincinnati, Ohio that has theappropriate space available on the truck to transport a freight shipmentto Pittsburgh, Pa. at the time the freight client requests to have theirfreight shipment transported from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide a central platformthat is an interface between carriers and freight clients that enableseach of the carriers to engage each of their freight clients inreal-time with regard to identifying the needs of each of the freightclients regarding transporting their different freight shipments.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may maintain connectivitybetween the carriers and the freight clients such that the freightclients may submit their request for transporting freight shipments viaintelligent pricing computing device 190. The carriers may then identifythose requests in real-time via intelligent pricing computing device 190and engage the freight clients in real-time via the intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 to fulfill those requests for transporting freightshipments.

Rather than each carrier having to independently engage each of thedifferent freight clients to identify the transport needs of each of thefreight clients and then solicit their ability to satisfy thosetransport needs, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may enable thecarriers to identify in real-time potential freight clients with freightshipments that satisfy the availability of the different transportationplatforms and solicit those potential freight clients in real-time in anattempt to fill the available transportation platforms. For example, thecarrier has partially filled a truck with a freight shipment inCincinnati that is to be transported to Pittsburgh. The carrier wouldlike to fill the truck with additional freight shipments that are inCincinnati and are to be transported to Pittsburgh in order to fill thetruck to capacity. Rather than having to individually email and/or calleach of the numerous freight clients to determine if any of thosefreight clients have a freight shipment that is in Cincinnati and needsto be transported to Pittsburgh, the carrier may identify any suchfreight shipments in real-time via intelligent pricing computing device190.

One or more freight client computing devices 140 may engage intelligentpricing computing device 190 in order to interface with each of thecarriers in real-time regarding their request for transporting theirfreight shipments. Examples of freight client computing device 140 mayinclude a transportation management system, a warehouse managementsystem, an organization system, a client enterprise resource planningsystem, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a workstation, a portablecomputing device, other computing devices such as a laptop, or a desktopcomputer, cluster of computers, set-top box, a product inventorychecking system and/or any other suitable electronic device that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

In an embodiment, multiple modules may be implemented on the samecomputing device. Such a computing device may include software,firmware, hardware or a combination thereof. Software may include one ormore applications on an operating system. Hardware can include, but isnot limited to, a processor, a memory, and/or graphical user interfacedisplay.

One or more carrier computing devices 110 may also engage intelligentpricing computing device 190 in order to interface with each of thefreight clients in real-time regarding the different requests forfreight shipment transport as well as soliciting to fulfill thoserequests. Examples of carrier computing device 110 may include atransportation management system, a warehouse management system, anorganization system, a client enterprise resource planning system, amobile telephone, a smartphone, a workstation, a portable computingdevice, other computing devices such as a laptop, or a desktop computer,cluster of computers, set-top box, a product inventory checking systemand/or any other suitable electronic device that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

In an embodiment, multiple modules may be implemented on the samecomputing device. Such a computing device may include software,firmware, hardware or a combination thereof. Software may include one ormore applications on an operating system. Hardware can include, but isnot limited to, a processor, a memory, and/or graphical user interfacedisplay.

Real-time is the updated information available to intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 when the carrier and/or freight client requests toanalyze the information. For example, real-time may include thedifferent freight clients have submitted requests to intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 to have freight shipments transported when thecarrier requests to evaluate such available requests. In anotherexample, real-time may include the different carriers that havesubmitted solicitations to transport freight shipments via intelligentpricing computing device 190 when the freight client requests to have afreight shipment transported. Thus, real-time may be the period of timebetween updates executed by intelligent pricing computing device 190 toobtain the updated information from carrier computing devices 110 andfreight client computing devices 140. For example, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may obtain updated information from carriercomputing devices 110 and freight computing devices 140 everynanosecond, millisecond, second, minute, period of minutes and/or anyother period of time between updates executed by intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 that will be apparent from those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure.

As noted above, each carrier may have numerous freight clients.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide a platform ofconnectivity to enable each carrier to not only engage their ownnumerous freight clients but also the numerous freight clients of eachother participating carrier. Thus, intelligent pricing computing device190 may provide a platform of connectivity so that numerous types oftransportation data may be communicated between numerous carriercomputing devices 110 and numerous freight client computing devices 140.For example, 1,500 different carriers may engage intelligent computingdevice 190 in an attempt to evaluate different requests for transportingfreight shipments. The 1,500 carriers may have 35,000 different freightclients. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide theplatform of connectivity for 1,500 different carriers to entertainrequests for transporting freight shipments from 35,000 differentfreight clients which may equate to hundreds of thousands of differentrequests for transporting freight shipments. Such an expansive platformof connectivity may significantly increase the likelihood that eachparticipating carrier may fill each transportation platform to capacityas well as increasing the likelihood that each participating freightclient may identify a carrier to transport their freight shipment.

Providing such an expansive platform of connectivity by intelligentpricing computing device 190 between numerous freight client computingdevices 140 and carrier computing devices 110 may result in an immenseamount of transportation data that is streamed between intelligentpricing computing device 190 and numerous freight client computingdevices 140 and carrier computing devices 110. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may interface with any type of management systemsupported by each different freight computing device 140 and carriercomputing device 110. In doing so, transportation data generated by eachdifferent freight computing device 140, carrier computing device 110 andintelligent computing device 190 may be easily streamed between eachother. For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayinterface with a transportation management system, a warehousemanagement system, an organization system, a client enterprise resourceplanning system and/or any other type of management system supported byfreight client computing devices 140 and carrier computing devices 110that will be apparent from those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

As shown, transportation data may be streamed between numerous carriercomputing devices 110, numerous freight client computing devices 140,and intelligent pricing computing device 190 via network 180. Network180 includes one or more networks, such as the Internet. In someembodiments of the present disclosure, network 120 may include one ormore wide area networks (WAN) or local area networks (LAN). Network 120may utilize one or more network technologies such as Ethernet, FastEthernet, Gigabit Ethernet, virtual private network (VPN), remote VPNaccess, a variant of IEEE 802.11 standard such as Wi-Fi, and the like.Communication over network 120 takes place using one or more networkcommunication protocols including reliable streaming protocols such astransmission control protocol (TCP). Each of the numerous freight clientcomputing devices 140 and carrier computing devices 110 may interfacewith intelligent pricing computing device 190 via network 180 through anapplication programming interface (API), web interface and/or any othertype of interface that will be apparent from those skilled in therelevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent disclosure. These examples are illustrative and not intended tolimit the present disclosure.

Transportation data includes data associated with the requests fortransporting the freight shipments by the freight clients as well as thedata associated with the carrier in attempting to execute those freightshipments. As noted above, numerous carriers and freight clients mayengage intelligent pricing computing device 190 to have their freightshipment needs satisfied whether fulfilling requests to transportfreight shipments and/or utilize available transportation platforms totransport the freight shipments. With such an immense amount of freightclients and carriers engaging intelligent pricing computing device 190on a daily basis, the amount of transportation data that is streamed viaintelligent pricing computing device 190 to freight client computingdevices 140 and carrier computing devices 110 is also immense. In orderfor freight clients and carriers to adequately negotiate what isinvolved in fulfilling such numerous requests to transport freightshipments, an immense amount of transportation data is streamed back andforth via intelligent pricing computing device 190 so that the freightclients and carriers may have sufficient information to intelligentlyagree upon the terms of fulfilling each of the numerous requests totransport freight shipments.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may stream the immense amountof transportation data to and from each of the numerous freight clientcomputing devices 140 and carrier computing devices 110 in real-timesuch that each of the freight clients and carriers may have thetransportation data available to negotiate the execution of the requeststo transport freight shipments. For example, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may stream transportation data in real-time to thenumerous freight client computing devices 140 and carrier computingdevices 110 that includes but is not limited to rates, transit times,dispatching to schedule the pickup, tracking, tracing, invoices forexecuting the transport request, dates of transport, zip codes ofshipment route, size of freight shipment, number of pallets, rate fortransporting the freight shipment, freight shipments booked by eachcarrier with each freight client, dollar amount of freight shipmentsbooked by each carrier, pickup accessories, exclusionary characteristicsof freight shipments that are to be excluded, payment type, shippingaccessories required to execute the transport of the freight shipments,adjustments to the quote, intelligent pricing, and/or any other type oftransportation data that assists the freight clients and the carriers tonegotiate the execution of the requests to transport freight shipmentsthat will be apparent from those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

As noted above, numerous carriers and freight clients may engageintelligent pricing computing device 190 to have their freight shipmentneeds satisfied whether fulfilling requests to transport freightshipments and/or utilize available transportation platforms to transportthe freight shipments. Such a numerous amount of carriers and freightclients engaging intelligent pricing computing device 190 may result inan immense amount of requests for transporting freight shipments beinggenerated in real-time on a moment by moment basis. For example, 1,500carriers engage intelligent pricing computing device 190 and 35,000freight clients. Of those 35,000 freight clients, hundreds of thousandsof requests to transport freight shipments may be generated on a dailybasis by the 35,000 freight clients. Each of the 1,500 carriers cannotfeasibly review hundreds of thousands of requests to transport freightshipments to determine whether the available transportation platformsfor the carrier may be utilized to execute the transport requests.

Further, freight clients and carriers are under pressure to executedecisions regarding executing requests to transport freight shipments inshort time intervals. Freight clients often have to have their freightshipments transported within short time intervals and carriers have tohave their available transportation platforms filled to capacity asquickly as possible in order to increase their profitability. The lessutilization of the available transportation platforms by the carriersresults in less profit earned by the carriers. For example, freightclients and carriers may have to evaluate the available options withregard to executing the numerous requests to transport freight within amatter of seconds in order for the carriers to quickly take action inexecuting the transport requests to utilize their availabletransportation platforms and the freight clients have to have theirfreight shipments transported in a timely manner. Thus, freight clientsand carriers have to evaluate the immense amount of transportation datafor each of the immense amount of available transport requests quickly.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may streamline the immenseamount of requests to transport freight shipments generated in real-timeand filter the requests to those that are applicable to the availabilityof transportation platforms that the carrier is seeking to utilize.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may also streamline the immenseamount of carriers that have availability of transportation platforms tothose that are applicable to the needs of the freight shipments that thefreight client is seeking to have transported. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then streamline and provide the appropriatetransportation data associated with the appropriate transport requestsand availability of transportation platforms to each of the numerousfreight client computing devices 140 and carrier computing devices 110as customized to each freight client computing device 140 and carriercomputing device 110. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device190 may serve as the single platform necessary for both freight clientsto have their transport requests fulfilled and for carriers to satisfytheir available transportation platforms. All of the necessarytransportation data may be provided in a streamlined manner byintelligent computing device 190 such that the freight clients andcarriers do not have to consult any other platform.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may filter the immense amountof requests to transport freight shipments as well as the immense amountof carriers that have availability of transportation platforms based onattributes associated with each of the freight shipments requested to betransported by the freight clients as well as carrier attributes thatare associated with each of the different transportation platformsoffered by the carriers. Attributes associated with each of the freightshipments specify the types of characteristics unique to the freightshipment and provide insight as to what is required to adequatelytransport the freight shipment to the satisfaction of the freightclient. For example, a produce distributor may require that 10 palletsof assorted fruits be transported from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh within24 hours in a refrigerated trailer to ensure that the assorted fruitsremain fresh upon delivery in Pittsburgh. In such an example theattributes associated with the freight shipment include the size of thefreight shipment in 10 pallets, the type of freight shipment in assortedfruits, the route of the freight shipment in Cincinnati to Pittsburgh,the timeline of delivery of within 24 hours, and a temperaturerequirement that requires refrigeration.

Carrier attributes associated with each of the different transportationplatforms provided by the carrier specify the types of characteristicsunique to the transportation platform provided by the carrier andprovide insight as to the types of freight shipments that the carrierwould like to transport based on the available transportation platformsto increase the utilization of the available transportation platforms.For example, a carrier has a truck in Cincinnati that currently has 14pallets of availability and is to be routed to Pittsburgh within thenext 24 hours with its current freight shipment of 10 pallets and is arefrigerated trailer. In such an example, the carrier attributesassociated with the available transportation platform is the type oftransportation platform of a truck, current space available is 14pallets, the route of the available transportation platform isCincinnati to Pittsburgh, the timeline requirement for delivery iswithin 24 hours, and refrigeration is available.

The carrier attributes associated with each of the differenttransportation platforms may fluctuate depending on the availability. Asthe carrier is able to accept different requests to transport freightshipments, the carrier attributes of each of the differenttransportation platforms fluctuate. For example, as a carrier accepts arequest to transport 4 pallets of assorted fruits to a truck thatalready has 10 pallets of assorted fruits allocated to it to transportfrom Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in the next 24 hours on a refrigeratedtruck, the carrier attribute of the amount of availability for thatparticular transportation platform decreases from 14 pallets ofavailability to 10 pallets of availability upon the acceptance of therequest to transport the 4 pallets in addition to the 10 pallets alreadyallocated to the transportation platform. Thus, the carrier attributesassociated with the different transportation platforms offered by thecarriers may constantly fluctuate as each of the different carriersaccept different requests to transport freight shipments to strive tofully utilize their available transportation platforms.

The freight client may identify each of the attributes associated with afreight shipment when entering their request to transport the freightshipment via freight client computing device 140. Of the numerousfreight client computing devices 140 that are generating an immenseamount of requests to transport freight shipments on an ongoing basis,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may filter the immense amountof transport requests in real-time based on the identified attributesfor each of the different transport requests. The carrier may alsoidentify each of the carrier attributes associated with their availabletransportation platforms via carrier computing device 110. Of thenumerous carrier computing devices 110 that are generating an immenseamount of inquiries with regard to available transport requests toutilize their available transportation platforms on an ongoing basis,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may also filter the immenseamount of transport requests in real-time based on the identifiedcarrier attributes provided by the carriers.

In filtering through the immense amount of transport requests inreal-time based on the attributes of each of the transport requests andthe carrier attributes associated with the available transportationplatforms, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may customize thetransport requests that are provided to each carrier as well as theavailable transportation platforms to each freight client to those thatare applicable to each specific carrier and freight client. As notedabove, hundreds of thousands of requests to transport freight shipmentsmay be generated on a daily basis and accessed by intelligent pricingcomputing device 190. Rather than each carrier having to review hundredsof thousands of transport requests to evaluate as to which transportrequests to engage to most efficiently utilize their availabletransportation platforms, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maycustomize the transport requests that may be viewed by the carrier basedon those transport requests that have attributes associated with thefreight shipments that satisfy the carrier attributes selected by thecarrier that apply to the available transportation platforms of thecarrier. In doing so, each individual carrier may efficiently evaluatein real-time the available transport requests that specifically apply tothe transportation platforms currently available to the carrier and thenquickly make decisions as to the transport requests that the carrierwould like to engage to most efficiently utilize their availabletransportation platforms.

For example, the carrier may select via carrier computing device 110 thecarrier attributes associated with the available transportation platformas the type of transportation platform of a truck, current spaceavailable is 14 pallets, the route of the available transportationplatform is Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, the timeline requirement fordelivery is within 24 hours, and refrigeration is available. Rather thanthe carrier having to evaluate hundreds of thousands of differentrequests for transporting freight shipments available from 35,000different freight clients as accessed by intelligent pricing computingdevice 190, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may filter thehundreds of thousands of transport requests to those transport requeststhat have attributes that satisfy the carrier attributes for theavailable transportation platform of the carrier. In such an example,pricing computing device 190 may filter the hundreds of thousands oftransport requests to those transport requests that can be transportedon a truck, is a quantity of 14 pallets or less, are to be transportedfrom Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, are available to be transported within 24hours, and may be exposed to refrigeration. In doing so, the carrier maythen evaluate the transport requests that are customized to the carrierattributes of the available transportation platform to evaluate quicklyas to the transport requests that the carrier would like to undertake tomost efficiently utilize their available transportation platform.

As noted above, freight clients are continuously submitting requests totransport freight shipments to intelligent pricing computing device 190and carriers are continuously accepting transport requests and in doingso triggers a constant fluctuation in the carrier attributes for eachtransportation platform due to the availability of each transportationplatform changing upon the acceptance of a transport request.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update and analyze inreal-time the attributes associated with each of the numerous transportrequests submitted by the freight clients as well as the fluctuatingcarrier attributes associated with the numerous different transportationplatforms. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maycustomize the transport requests that are streamlined to the carrierbased on the real-time availability of transport requests that haveattributes that satisfy the carrier attributes of the real-timeavailability of transportation platforms. This may enable both freightclients and carriers to efficiently come to agreement as to the terms ofexecuting the transport requests based on the real-time status ofattributes that satisfy the carrier attributes.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then provide in real-timethe streamlined and appropriate transportation data as customized toeach individual freight client computing device 140 via user interface170 and each individual carrier computing device 110 via user interface130. In doing so, each carrier may easily evaluate in real-time thetransportation data associated with the current requests to transportfreight shipments that are customized based on the attributes of eachrequest that satisfy the carrier attributes of the current availabilityof transportation platforms. Each freight client may also in real-timeeasily evaluate the transportation data associated with the availabletransportation platforms offered by each carrier that are customizedbased on the attributes of each request that satisfy the carrierattributes of the current availability of transportation platforms.Thus, each of the numerous carriers may easily view the transportationdata of the customized transport requests via user interface 130 oftheir corresponding carrier computing device 110 and each of thenumerous freight clients may easily view the transportation data of thecustomized available transportation platforms via user interface 170 oftheir corresponding freight client computing device 140. FIGS. 2A, 2B,and 2C depicts an example customized display 200 that may be provided byintelligent pricing computing device 190 and customized for eachindividual freight client computing device 140 and carrier computingdevice 110 that may be displayed to enable the corresponding freightclient and/or carrier to efficiently engage in transport requests.

User interface 130 and user interface 170 may include any type ofdisplay device including but not limited to a touch screen display, acathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen,and/or any other type of display device that includes a display thatwill be apparent from those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 providing streamlinedtransportation data in real-time to each freight client computing device140 and each carrier computing device 110 such that the transportationdata is customized for each freight client and carrier enables theintelligent pricing computing device 190 to also generate an integratedpricing package for each request to transport a freight shipment. Asnoted above, carriers are under pressure to ensure that theirtransportation platforms are as close to capacity as possible in orderto increase their profitability with regard to utilizing theirtransportation platforms to transport the freight shipments. The lesseach transportation platform is from capacity when transporting thefreight shipment for a particular transport route, the less profitablethe transport is for the carrier.

Once the carrier commits to executing a request to transport a freightshipment for a freight client and commits a transportation platform totransport the freight shipment, a fixed cost is automatically associatedwith the transportation platform in having to transport the freightshipment despite whether the transportation platform is at capacity. Forexample, once a transportation platform is committed to transporting afreight shipment, there is a fixed cost associated with fuel consumed bythe transportation platform to transport the freight shipment, the costof the driver/pilot to operate the transportation platform along therequired route, to load and unload the freight shipment from thetransportation platform and so on. This fixed cost is associated withthe transportation platform once the carrier commits the transportationplatform to executing a transport request regardless as to whether thetransport request fills the transportation platform to capacity as thisfixed cost is required to execute the transport request.

Often times, the carrier may commit to executing a transport request fora freight shipment with a transportation platform when the freightshipment does not occupy the full capacity of the transportationplatform. With numerous transportation platforms positioned in numerousdifferent locations and with each needed to execute transport requeststo be profitable, the carrier may often times commit to executingtransport requests that do not occupy the full capacity of thetransportation platform. As noted above, an immense amount of transportrequests is constantly submitted to intelligent pricing computing device190 on a daily basis but only a percentage of those transport requestsmay satisfy the carrier attributes for the available transportationplatforms of the carrier. Thus, the carrier may not be confident that asingle transport request may be submitted requires a transportationplatform at full capacity to execute the transport request in thelocation that the transportation platform is currently located. Thecarrier may then accept transport requests that require less than thecapacity of the transportation platform to ensure the that thetransportation platform is at least utilized and does not remaindormant.

In accepting transport requests that fail to utilize the full capacityof the transportation platform, the carrier may then be under increasedpressure to locate additional transport requests that satisfy thecarrier attributes of the transportation platform that has a partialcapacity already committed to other transport requests in an attempt tofully utilize the capacity of the transportation platform. As notedabove, the carrier now has a fixed cost associated with committing toexecute the transport request that fails to utilize the full capacity ofthe transportation platform and has to find additional requests totransport freight shipments with the transportation platform in order toincrease the profitability of executing the route by the transportationplatform. However, once the carrier commits to executing a transportrequest that fails to utilize the full capacity of the transportationplatform, the carrier is limited to entertaining additional transportrequests that satisfy the carrier attributes of the already acceptedtransport request.

For example, the carrier initially accepts a transport request totransport 10 pallets of assorted fruits from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh inthe next 24 hours on a truck with a refrigerated trailer that iscurrently located in Cincinnati. The carrier is now committed to a fixedcost associated with transporting the 10 pallets of assorted fruits toPittsburgh in the next 24 hours on a refrigerated trailer. However, thecapacity of the truck is 24 pallets and thus the truck has availabilityto transport an additional 14 pallets of freight shipment that canwithstand refrigeration to Pittsburgh in the next 24 hours. In order toincrease the profitability of utilizing the truck to transport thefreight shipment from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, the carrier is underpressure to locate additional transport requests with carrier attributesthat include up to 14 additional pallets of freight shipment that arelocated in Cincinnati and are required to be transported to Pittsburghand are available for transport in the next 24 hours in order to fullyutilize the capacity of the truck to increase the profitability ofutilizing the truck.

Thus, the carrier may be inclined to offer discounts to freight clientsthat have requests to transport freight shipments that satisfy thespecific carrier attributes of the transportation platform that thecarrier has already committed to executing a transport request to enticethe freight clients to utilize the transportation platform in executingtheir transport requests. For example, the carrier may be inclined tooffer a discount to a freight client that has a transport request totransport 4 additional pallets of assorted fruits from Cincinnati toPittsburgh in the next 24 hours as that transport request satisfies thecarrier attributes of the transport request already committed to by thecarrier. In offering the discount, the carrier may more easily enticethe freight client to utilize the carrier's truck to execute thetransport request and in doing so may increase the utilization of thetruck from 10 pallets to 14 pallets and thereby increase theprofitability in utilizing the truck to execute the route of deliveringthe pallets from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in the next 24 hours.

As noted above, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update inreal-time carrier attributes associated with a carrier that istransporting each freight shipment for each freight client where thecarrier attributes are associated with each different transportationplatform provided by the carrier and fluctuate depending on anavailability for each different transportation platform. In doing so,carrier attributes that fluctuate constantly based on the carrieraccepting different requests to transport freight shipments may becaptured and updated by intelligent pricing computing device 190.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may also analyze in real-timethe carrier attributes to determine the carrier attributes that apply toeach freight shipment requested by each freight client to betransported. Despite the immense amount of transport requests submittedto intelligent pricing computing device 190 freight clients and theimmense amount of transportation platforms with carrier attributes thatare constantly fluctuating, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maystreamline and customize the transport requests that satisfy the updatedcurrent attributes of the available transportation platforms for aspecific carrier in real-time such that the carrier may easily analyzethe available transport requests that satisfy the carrier parameters ofthe transportation platforms for the carrier.

In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may also generatecustomized pricing parameters for each freight shipment by integratingthe carrier attributes that apply to each freight shipment. Thecustomized pricing parameters may be customized based on the real-timeupdate and analysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes that apply toeach freight shipment. Customized pricing parameters may be parametersthat are customized by intelligent pricing computing device 190 for aspecific transport request of freight shipment to incorporate thecurrent state of carrier attributes so that the customized pricingparameters are customized to the current availability of transportationplatforms with regard to executing the specific transport request. Forexample, the customized pricing parameters may be different discountsthat are generated by intelligent pricing computing device 190 for aspecific transport request that incorporate the current state of carrierattributes for the current availability of transportation platforms toentice the freight client to accept the carrier's transportationplatform as the mode to have their transport request fulfilled by thecarrier.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then provide an integratedpricing package to each freight client that incorporates the customizedpricing parameters that are customized to each freight shipment. Theintegrated pricing package may be the pricing package offered to eachfreight client that if accepted by the freight client grants the freightclient each of the customized pricing parameters included in theintegrated pricing package while enabling the carrier to increase theirprofitability in transporting the freight shipment. As noted above, eachcustomized pricing parameter incorporated into the integrated pricingpackage is based on the complicated weave and interaction of the currentstate of carrier attributes and enables intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 to provide an integrated pricing package that balances theneed for the carrier to utilize the capacity of the availabletransportation platforms while doing so to increase their profitability.

For example, the carrier initially accepts a transport request totransport 10 pallets of assorted fruits from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh inthe next 24 hours on a truck with a refrigerated trailer that iscurrently located in Cincinnati. The carrier is now committed to a fixedcost associated with transporting the 10 pallets of assorted fruits toPittsburgh in the next 24 hours on a refrigerated trailer. However, thecapacity of the truck is 24 pallets and thus the truck has availabilityto transport an additional 14 pallets of freight shipment that canwithstand refrigeration to Pittsburgh in the next 24 hours. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may update the carrier attributesassociated with each of the carrier's transportation platforms inreal-time and analyze those updated carrier attributes to determine theavailable transport requests that satisfy those updated carrierattributes.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then identify a freightclient that has a transport request for 10 additional pallets thatsatisfy the carrier attributes of being located in Cincinnati, are to betransported to Pittsburgh and are available to be transported in thenext 24 hours and may be susceptible to refrigeration. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may then generate customized pricingparameters based on the real-time update and analysis of the carrierattributes to determine that a customized pricing parameter of a 4%discount may be offered to the freight client. The 4% discountincorporates in real-time the updated carrier attributes and providesthe carrier the incentive to offer to the freight client the discount tobring the utilization of the truck from 10 pallets to 20 pallets and indoing so further increases the profitability of the carrier in executingthe transport request at the discounted rate.

In addition to the 4% discount, the intelligent pricing computing device190 may then once again update the carrier attributes in real-time andanalyze the updated carrier attributes in real-time to determine thatthe truck is now at a capacity of 20 pallets and only needs 4 additionalpallets to be at capacity. However, intelligent pricing computing device190 may determine that the likelihood of finding a transport request ofonly 4 additional pallets that satisfy the updated carrier attributes ofbeing located in Cincinnati, are to be transported in Pittsburgh and areavailable to be transported in the next 24 hours and may be susceptibleto refrigeration may be decreased due to the real-time analysis ofcurrent transport requests submitted to intelligent pricing computingdevice 190. Thus, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may generatean additional customized pricing parameter of a 10% discount for anytransport request of 4 pallets that satisfy the updated carrierattributes. In doing so, the carrier may increase its profitability byhaving the truck at full capacity of 24 pallets despite offering a 10%discount for the 4 additional pallets. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may then incorporate the customized pricing parameters of a5% discount on the 10 pallet transport request and then the additional10% incentive discount of an additional 4 pallet transport into theintegrated pricing package and provide the integrated pricing package tothe freight client via freight client computing device 140.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may analyze in real-time all ofthe transport requests submitted to intelligent pricing computing device190 by the immense amount of freight client computing devices 140 aswell as analyze in real-time the updated carrier attributes for each ofthe immense amount of transportation platforms available for eachparticipating carrier to determine the transport requests that satisfythe updated carrier attributes. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may then determine in real-time customized pricing parameters for eachof the transport requests that satisfy the updated carrier attributessuch that the customized pricing parameters increase the profitabilityof the carrier in filling the capacity of the available transportationplatforms based on the current state of the carrier attributes.

Rather than the carrier having to calculate discounts on their own foreach transport request and then step out of the automated system tosolicit those discounts to the to the appropriate freight client viaemail or phone, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinethe customized pricing parameters in real-time based on the currentstate of the updated carrier attributes and provide those customizedpricing parameters to each specific freight client in an integratedpricing package. In doing so, the carrier may commit to executingtransport requests at the moment the transport request is available aswell as the availability of the transportation platform at such a momentwith customized pricing parameters that increase the profitability ofthe carrier if the freight client agrees to the integrated pricingpackage without delaying the decision making and/or negotiating process.Thus, the carrier may via carrier computing device 110 navigate throughthousands of transactions a day with regard to filling their availabletransportation platforms to capacity and to do so in a manner thatincreases their profitability without sacrificing valuable time.

Intelligent Pricing

As noted above, intelligent pricing system 100 may update and analyze inreal-time carrier attributes that are associated with the differenttransportation platforms provided by each of the carriers and fluctuatedepending on the availability of the different transportation platforms.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then generate customizedpricing parameters for each request to transport freight shipments thatare customized based on the real-time update and analysis of thefluctuating carrier attributes that apply to each of the freightshipments. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then provide anintegrated pricing package to the freight clients that incorporate eachof the customized pricing parameters that apply to the transportrequest.

One such implementation of providing an integrated pricing package isillustrated in process 300 in FIG. 3. Process 300 includes eight primarysteps: receive requests from freight clients to generate the integratedpricing package 310, determine a current pricing package between eachfreight client and carrier 320, apply in real-time shipment attributesto each transport request 330, apply in real-time shipment attributes toeach transport request 340, analyze the customized pricing parameters todetermine whether the integrated pricing package parameters aresatisfied 350, generate the integrated pricing package 360, determinewhether the carrier identification for the integrated pricing packagereconciles with the carrier 370, and provide the integrated pricingpackage to the freight client 380. Steps 310-380 are typicallyimplemented in a computer, e.g., via software and/or hardware, e.g.,intelligent pricing computing device 190.

In step 310, a plurality of requests from a plurality of freight clientcomputing devices 140 to generate the integrated pricing package foreach request may be received by intelligent pricing computing device190. Numerous requests to transport freight shipments may be generatedfrom numerous different freight client computing devices 140. With reachtransport request, each freight client computing device 140 may alsorequest a corresponding integrated pricing package for each transportrequest. Rather than have each of the numerous freight client computingdevices 140 transmit each of the numerous transport requests to eachindividual carrier, the numerous transport requests may be transmittedto intelligent pricing computing device 190. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then provide each of the transport requests tothe applicable carrier based on the attributes associated with each ofthe transport requests and the updated carrier attributes for each ofthe carriers.

In an embodiment as shown in intelligent pricing system 400 in FIG. 4,each of the numerous freight client computing devices 140 may beimplemented as a client enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. In410, the numerous requests to transport freight shipments may begenerated by the client ERP system and a web service may then export thenumerous requests in 420 to intelligent pricing computing device 190 viaweb services 430. The numerous transport requests from the numerousdifferent client ERP systems may be exported to intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 in real-time and/or batched. The numerous transportrequests generated by the numerous freight client computing devices 140may be transmitted to intelligent pricing computing device 190 in anymanner that will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s)without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.In an example embodiment, step 310 may be performed by processor 195 ofintelligent processing computing device 190 as shown in FIG. 1.

After the request is received, in step 320, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may determine a current pricing package that existsbetween each freight client and each carrier. The current pricingpackage is a standard pricing package between each freight client andeach carrier and is not adjusted based on any customized pricingparameters that may be generated by intelligent pricing computing device190. In an embodiment as shown in intelligent pricing system 400 in FIG.4, an order may be generated by intelligent pricing computing device 190for each of the transport requests received from each of the client ERPsystems in 440. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may thenautomatically determine a current pricing package that exists betweeneach freight client and each carrier for each transport request. In anexample embodiment, step 320 may be performed by processor 195 ofintelligent processing computing device 190 as shown in FIG. 1.

In step 330, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may apply inreal-time shipping attributes to each transport request. As noted above,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update and analyze inreal-time attributes associated with each of the numerous requests totransport freight shipments as well as update and analyze in real-timecarrier attributes associated with each of the available transportationplatforms for each of the numerous carriers. A specific carrierattribute that may be applied by intelligent pricing computing device190 to each of the transport requests in customizing the transportrequests to those transport requests that satisfy the carrier attributesis a shipment attribute. Shipment attributes may be associated with eachof the different transportation platforms that are available for thecarrier and provide a constraint to determine whether a freight shipmentqualifies for an integrated pricing package. The shipment attribute maydefine the type of freight shipments that the carrier may request totransport as well as the pick-up location and/or delivery location ofthe freight shipments as well as the timing of when the freightshipments are to be transported.

For example, the carrier has an available transportation platform withshipment attributes that include the transportation platform being atruck, located in Cincinnati, is going to Pittsburgh in the next 24hours, has 14 pallets of available space, and is a refrigeration truck.Each of these different shipment attributes provided constraints as tothe requests to transport freight shipments that satisfy these differentshipment attributes. In such an example, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may limit the freight shipments that satisfy the shipmentattributes to requests that may be transported in a refrigerated truck,are located in Cincinnati, are to be transported to Pittsburgh, areavailable to be transported in the next 24 hours, and is 14 pallets orless. Shipment attributes may include but are not limited to dateconstraints such as pick-up date, delivery date, day of the week, weekof the month, time constraints, zip code constraints such as 3 digit to5 digit zip codes, city constraints, state constraints, dimensionalconstraints, weight constraints, packaging type constraints, classconstraints, dimension constraints, density constraints, pallet quantityconstraints, pricing constraints, geographical constraints, acutedensity constraints, hazmat constraints, accessorial constraints,special instruction constraints, whether the freight shipment may betransported through residential areas, head haul and/or back haulconstraints, and/or any other type of shipment attribute that provides aconstraint as to the transport requests of freight shipments that may betransported by the available transportation platforms of the carrierthat will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update in real-time theshipment attributes associated with the carrier. As noted above,shipment attributes associated with available transportation platformsfor the carrier may constantly fluctuate as the carrier utilizes theavailable transportation platforms to fulfill transport requests. Forexample, the carrier may have hundreds of different availabletransportation platforms at a given moment located in numerous differentlocations and the carrier may be allocating different availabletransportation platforms to fulfill transport requests as well astransportation platforms changing location and so on. Thus, intelligentpricing computing device 190 may update in real-time the shipmentattributes associated with each of the available transportationplatforms for the carrier in real-time such that the constraints as towhich transport requests may be transported by the availabletransportation platforms of the carrier may be up to date as of themoment that carrier is determining whether to fulfill transportrequests.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then automatically apply inreal-time each of the shipment attributes to each freight shipment aseach freight shipment is requested by each freight client. As notedabove, numerous transport requests may be submitted to intelligentpricing computing device 190. For the carrier to evaluate such numeroustransport requests, such as hundreds of thousands of transport requests,in a short period of time to execute a decision to as to which transportrequests to accept is not feasible. Intelligent pricing computing device190 may automatically apply each of the shipment attributes to thenumerous transport requests, such as hundreds of thousands of transportrequests, in real-time such that the intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may customize the transport requests that satisfy theshipment attributes for each specific available transportation platformfor the carrier. In doing so, the transport requests may be streamlinedand customized based on the current state of the shipment attributes ofthe available transportation platform as well as the current state ofthe transport requests that satisfy those shipment attributes andprovided to the carrier for evaluation without any intervention by thecarrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine inreal-time whether each freight shipment qualifies for the correspondingintegrated pricing package based on each of the shipment attributes.

For example, the shipment attributes may include the pick-up and/ordelivery address data. The pick-up and/or delivery address data mayinclude data that is associated with the geographic location of thepick-up location and/or the delivery location of the freight shipment.As noted above, the carrier may have numerous transportation platformsavailable at a time with each transportation platform located in aspecific location and may be committed to a specific pick-up location topick-up one or more freight shipments and/or a specific deliverylocation to deliver one or more freight shipments. Often times thefreight shipments that the carrier commits to transport from a specificpick-up location and/or to a specific delivery location may not fullyoccupy the transportation platform, such as the truck transportingand/or picking up the freight shipments. Further, once thetransportation platform, such as the truck, is located at a specificdelivery location after a delivery is completed. In order for thetransportation platform to return back to the original location and tobe profitable in doing so, the carrier may request that a newtransportation platform be generated so that the carrier may acceptfreight shipments to fill the truck so that the carrier may beprofitable on the return trip back to the original location.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may evaluate transport requeststo pick-up and/or deliver freight shipments based on the pick-uplocation and/or the delivery location of the freight shipments.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then filter the transportrequests available to the carrier based on a radius of the pick-uplocation and/or delivery location of the freight shipments provided inthe transport requests. The radius of the pick-up location and/ordelivery location of the freight shipments may be the radius in whichthe carrier may travel to pick-up and/or deliver the freight shipmentswhile still being profitable in doing so based on the current pick-upand/or delivery location that the truck is currently located.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may select the transportrequests that are within the radius of the pick-up location and/ordelivery location of the freight shipments provided in the transportrequests as transport requests that the carrier may consider asaccepting due to the pick-up location and/or delivery location beingwithin the radius in which the carrier may be profitable in travellingto pick-up and/or deliver the freight shipments of the transportrequests. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayincorporate the freight shipments that are within the radius of thecurrent pick-up and/or delivery location that the truck is currentlylocated as qualifying for the corresponding integrated pricing package.

The pick-up and/or delivery address data may include but is not limitedto the 3 digit to 5 digit zip code of the pick-up and/or deliverylocation of the freight shipment, the city of the pick-up and/ordelivery location of the freight shipment, the state of the pick-upand/or delivery location of the freight shipment and/or any otherpick-up and/or delivery address data that may enable intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 to determine if the pick-up and/or deliverylocation of the freight shipment is within the radius of the currentpick-up and/or delivery location of the truck that will be apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spiritand scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the carrier has an available transportation platform withshipment attributes that include the transportation platform being atruck, located in Cincinnati, is going to Pittsburgh in the next 24hours, has 24 pallets of capacity but has committed to transport 10pallets to Pittsburgh and thus has 14 pallets of available space, and isa refrigeration truck. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayevaluate each of the available transport requests that require 14pallets or less, a refrigeration truck, and a delivery location ofPittsburgh that are within a radius of the current location of the truckwith 10 pallets committed for delivery to Pittsburgh in that the currentlocation of the truck is in Cincinnati.

In such an example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayevaluate each of the available transport requests to determine whetherthe current location of the freight shipments associated with each ofthe available transport requests are within 10 miles of the 5-digit zipcode of 45242 which is the zip code of the current location of the truckin Cincinnati. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then filterthe available transport requests to only include those availabletransport requests that are 14 pallets or less, require refrigeration,and have a pick-up location within 10 miles of the 5-digit zip code of45242 as transport requests that the carrier may consider based on thepick-up location being within 10 miles of 5-digit zip code of 45242. Indoing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may incorporate thosecorresponding freight shipments as qualifying for the correspondingintegrated pricing package.

In another example, the shipment attributes may include whether thecarrier is looking to allocate the transportation platform to a headhaul or back haul. The head haul is when the carrier allocates thetransportation platform to transport a freight shipment to a specificdrop-off location. Often times the carrier may require that the freightshipment that the carrier commits the transportation platform totransport the freight shipment to the specific drop-off location berated such that the cost of transporting the freight shipment isaccommodated in the pricing to ensure that the carrier does not absorb aloss in committing the transportation platform to the specific drop-offlocation. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then filterwhether the transportation platform of the carrier is available to be ahead haul such that the integrated pricing package applied to thetransport requests for the transportation platform that is available tobe a head haul has a decreased discount applied to the transport requestdue the carrier requiring that the transportation platform available forthe head haul to accommodate the cost of transporting the freightshipment as the head haul.

The back haul is when the carrier has already allocated thetransportation platform to the head haul to deliver a freight shipmentto a specific drop-off location and is requiring that the transportationplatform return back to the original departure location. Since thecarrier has already committed the transportation platform to the headhaul to deliver the freight shipment to the specific drop-off location,the carrier may request to fill the transportation platform to as closeto capacity as possible with freight shipments that are requested to betransported to the original departure location of the transport request.In doing so, the carrier may increase the profitability in returning thetransportation platform back to the original departure location as muchas possible by filling the transportation platform as close to capacityas possible with freight shipments since the carrier is returning thetransportation platform back to the original departure locationregardless of the freight shipments that are loaded onto thetransportation platform on the back haul. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may then filter whether the transportation platform of thecarrier is committed to be a back haul such that the integrated pricingpackage applied to the transport requests for the transportationplatform that is committed to be a back haul has an increased discountapplied to the transport request to encourage freight clients to committhe freight shipments to the back haul such that the carrier mayincrease the profitability of the back haul.

For example, the carrier has an available transportation platform withshipment attributes that include the transportation platform being atruck, located in Cincinnati. The carrier has yet to commit the truck totransport any freight shipment to any specific delivery location and isthus available to be a head haul. The shipment attributes for the trunkalso include 24 pallets of available space and is a refrigeration truck.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may evaluate each of theavailable transport requests to determine whether the transport requestsrequire 24 pallets or less of space and require refrigeration.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then filter whether thetransportation platform of the carrier is available to be a head haulsuch that the integrated pricing package applied to the transportrequests for the transportation platform that is available to be a headhaul has a decreased discount applied to the transport request due thecarrier requiring that the transportation platform available for thehead haul to accommodate the cost of transporting the freight shipmentas the head haul.

After the carrier commits the truck to transport freight shipments fromCincinnati to Pittsburgh and requires that the truck to return toPittsburgh after delivering the freight shipments in Pittsburgh, thetruck returning to Cincinnati from Pittsburgh becomes a back haul.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may evaluate each of theavailable transport requests to determine whether the transport requestsrequire 24 pallets or less of space, require refrigeration, and requirea delivery location of Cincinnati in order to have the truck completethe back haul to Cincinnati. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may then filter whether the transportation platform of the carrier iscommitted to being a back haul such that the integrated pricing packageapplied to the transport request that qualify the shipping attributes ofrequiring 24 pallets less of space, require refrigeration and require adelivery location of Cincinnati has an increased discount applied to thetransport request to encourage the freight clients to commit the freightshipments to the back haul such that the carrier may increase theprofitability of the back haul in returning the truck to Cincinnati.

In an embodiment as shown in intelligent pricing system 400 in FIG. 4,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may inject intelligent pricinginto the current pricing package that exists between each freight clientand each carrier for each transport request in 460 and is shown in moredetail in intelligent pricing system 500 in FIG. 5. Intelligent pricing510 may be injected into the current pricing package that exists betweeneach freight client and each carrier for each transport request in 520.Specifically, each of the shipment attributes 530 may be applied to eachof the transport requests to determine whether the transport requestssatisfy the shipment attributes 530. In an example embodiment, step 330may be performed by processor 195 of intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 as shown in FIG. 1.

In addition to applying each of the shipment attributes 530 to each ofthe transport requests to determine whether the transport requestssatisfy the shipment attributes 530, intelligent processing computingdevice 190 may also apply rate attributes to each of the transportrequests to determine whether the transport requests satisfy the rateattributes. Rate attributes may be associated with the pricing providedto different transport requests by the competitors of the carriers. Therate attributes may also be associated with the cost for transportingthe freight shipment based on a specified attribute associated with thefreight shipment such as the cost per pound and/or cost per mile totransport the freight shipment. The rate attributes may also bedynamically adjusted and independent of any current pricing packagebetween the freight client and the carrier.

For example, the carrier has an available transportation platform withshipment attributes that include the transportation platform being atruck, located in Cincinnati, is going to Pittsburgh in the next 24hours, has 14 pallets of available space, and is a refrigeration truck.The rate attributes that correspond to the shipment attributes mayenable the carrier to adjust the pricing of transport requests based onthe pricing that competitors of the carrier have offered fortransportation platforms with similar shipment attributes as theavailable transportation platform of the competitor as well as adjustthe rate based on the cost of transporting the freight. In such anexample, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may adjust theintegrated pricing package applied to the transport requests for thetruck to incorporate the rate attributes. Rate attributes may includebut are not limited to the least cost of a competitor, transit days thatthe freight shipment is to be transported, percentage and/or flat rateoff of the least cost quote of a competitor, cost per pound/per mile totransport the freight shipment, dynamic tariffs applied to the freightclient, and/or any other rate attribute that will be apparent to thoseskilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit andscope of the present disclosure.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine the rate at whicheach transport request provided by each freight client was awarded tothe competitor of the carrier. As noted above, numerous transportrequests may be generated by numerous freight clients. Of such numeroustransport requests generated by numerous freight clients, a significantportion of the transport requests may not have been awarded to thecarrier but to the competitors of the carrier. In being awarded to thecompetitors of the carrier, each of the competitors of the carrier wasawarded the transport request based on a rate that the competitors ofthe carrier offered to the corresponding freight clients. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may determine each rate that each of thetransport requests was awarded to each of the corresponding competitorsof the carrier and provide such rates to the carrier.

For example, the rate attributes may include the percentage and/or flatrate off the least cost quote. As noted above, numerous freight clientsmay generate numerous transport requests with a significant portion ofthe numerous transport requests being awarded to several differentcompetitors of the carrier. Each of the numerous transport requests thatwere awarded to competitors of the carrier were done so at a rate thatthe competitor charged the corresponding freight client to transport thefreight shipment associated with the transport request. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may then determine the rate for each of thenumerous transport requests that were awarded to different competitorsof the carrier.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then evaluate the rate fora transport request that was awarded to a competitor of the carrier andapply the rate attribute of the percentage and/or flat rate of the leastcost quote. The percentage and/or flat rate of the least cost quote is apercentage and/or flat rate that intelligent pricing computing device190 may apply to the rate for the transport request awarded to thecarrier to determine the rate to integrate into the correspondingintegrated pricing package for a transport request with shipmentattributes similar to that of the transport request that was awarded tothe competitor. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinewhether the current rate offered by the carrier for the transportrequest is within a rate threshold of the transport request withshipment attributes similar to that of the transport request that wasawarded to the competitor.

The rate threshold is a difference in the current rate offered by thecarrier for the transport request and the transport request withshipment attributes similar to that of the transport request that wasawarded to the carrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 maythen apply the percentage and/or flat rate to the least cost quotepreviously awarded to the competitor to generate the rate for thecarrier to offer for the transport request with similar shipmentattributes as the transport request previously awarded to thecompetitor. The current rate offered by the carrier for the transportrequest with shipment attributes similar to that of the transportrequest that was awarded to the carrier as being within the ratethreshold is indicative that applying the percentage and/or flat rate tothe least cost quote is a modest decrease in the rate offered by thecarrier and may be a suitable approach to increase the likelihood thatthe freight client accepts the reduced rate offered by the carrier thatis closer to the previous rate offered by the competitor while stillbeing profitable to the carrier.

In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may apply apercentage and/or flat rate to the least cost quote offered by any ofthe competitors of the carrier that was previously awarded the transportrequest with similar attributes when the current rate offered by thecarrier is within the rate threshold of the least cost quote offered bythe any of the competitors. In an embodiment, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 automatically apply a percentage to the least costquote offered by any of the competitors to generate the current rate tobe offered by the carrier for the transport request to ensure that thecurrent rate is more competitive with the least cost quote offered byany of the competitors. In an embodiment, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may automatically apply a flat rate off of the least costquote to generate the current rate to be offered by the carrier for thetransport request to ensure that the current rate is more competitivewith the least cost quote offered by any of the competitors. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may then adjust the integrated pricingpackage for the transport request accordingly to incorporate the reducedrate offered for the transport request.

For example, the carrier has a current rate for a transport request thatis within 9% of the least cost quote offered by the competitor for atransport request with similar attributes that was awarded to thecompetitor with the least cost quote. The rate threshold is 10%. In suchan example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may automaticallyapply a percentage to the least cost quote previously offered by thecompetitor to reduce the current rate for the transport request offeredby the carrier to be more competitive with the least cost quotepreviously offered by the competitor since the current rate for thetransport request is within 9% of the least cost quote previouslyoffered by the carrier and is within the rate threshold of 10%. In suchan example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may automaticallyapply a flat rate off the least cost quote previously offered by thecompetitor to reduce the current rate for the transport request offeredby the carrier to be more competitive with the least cost quote.

The rate attributes may also include whether the current rate offered bythe carrier for the transport request is currently the least cost rateoffered for the transport request. As noted above numerous freightclients may generate numerous transport requests with numerouscompetitors of the carrier also offering rates for the numeroustransport requests. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 maydetermine the rates currently offered for the transport request by thenumerous competitors of the carrier and determine whether the currentrate offered by the carrier for the transport request is currently theleast cost rate as compared to the rates offered by the numerouscompetitors for the transport request. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may then refrain from reducing the current rate offered bythe carrier for the transport request when the current rate is currentlythe least cost rate offered for the transport request as compared to therates offered by the numerous competitors for the transport request asthe current rate offered by the carrier is currently the lowest rateoffered so reducing further is not necessary. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then determine whether the current rate iswithin the rate threshold of the least cost quote currently offered bythe competitors when the current rate offered by the carrier for thetransport request is not the least cost rate for the transport request.

Rate attributes may also include the cost per pound/per mile of thetransport request. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 maydetermine the cost per pound and/or cost per mile for the transportationplatform of the carrier to execute the transport request for the freightclient. Each transport request may have a cost associated with thetransport request that the carrier is to consume for the transportationplatform to execute the transport request. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may determine the cost associated with the transport requestthat is the carrier is to consume for the transportation platform toexecute the transport request based on the weight of the freightshipment and/or the distance that the freight shipment is to betransported. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maydetermine a cost per pound that the carrier is to consume to transportthe freight shipment of the transport request based on the weight of thefreight shipment and/or determine a cost per mile that the carrier is toconsume to transport the freight shipment of the transport request basedon the distance that the freight shipment is to be transported.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine whether thetransport request satisfies a cost threshold. The cost threshold is apercentage of the cost consumed by the carrier to transport the freightshipment relative to the rate to be offered by the carrier to transportthe freight shipment. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayreduce the rate to be offered by the carrier to transport the freightshipment when the cost per pound and/or cost per mile is below the costthreshold as the cost consumed by the carrier is decreased sufficientlythat the carrier is to be profitable in transporting the transportrequest and may afford to decrease the rate offered for the transportrequest further while still being profitable in transporting thetransport request. However, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayrefrain from reducing the rate offered by the carrier to transport thefreight shipment when the cost per pound and/or cost per mile is abovethe cost threshold as the cost consumed by the carrier is not decreasedsufficiently triggering the carrier to have a reduced profitability intransporting the freight shipment and may not sustain a decrease in therate offered for the transport request.

For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine thatthe cost per pound to transport the freight shipment of the transportrequest triggers a cost that is consumed by the carrier to transport thefreight shipment that is 90% of the current rate offered by the carrierfor the transport request. The cost threshold is 92% such that 90% isbelow the cost threshold. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 maythen reduce the current rate offered by the carrier for the transportrequest to lower the current rate such that the cost consumed by thecarrier to transport the freight shipment increases from 90% to 92%. Indoing so, the carrier still operates with 8% profitability intransporting the freight shipment but may reduce the current rateoffered for the transport request to further incentivize the freightclient to use the carrier. In another example, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may determine that the cost per mile to transportthe freight shipment of the transport request triggers a cost thatconsumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipment that is 94% ofthe current rate offered by the carrier for the transport request. The94% is above the cost threshold of 92%. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may then refrain from reducing the current rate offered bythe carrier for the transport request as the carrier is alreadyoperating at 6% profitability in transporting the freight shipment andcannot afford to further reduce the current rate offered to reduce theprofitability in transporting the freight shipment even further.

Rate attributes may also include the transit days that the freightshipment of the transport request is to be transported. The amount oftransit days that the freight shipment of the transport request is to betransported may increase the cost consumed by the carrier to transportthe freight shipment. The greater amount of transit days that thefreight shipment of the transport request is to be transported, thegreater amount of time the driver is to commit to the transporting thefreight shipment thereby increasing the cost of the driver to transportthe freight shipment, the increased amount of fuel consumed by thetransport platform, the increased wear and tear on the transportationplatform and so on. Thus, as the lesser amount of transit days that thefreight shipment of the transport request is to be transported decreasesthe cost consumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipment.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine whether thetransport request satisfies a transit threshold. The transit thresholdis the amount of transit days that when above may significantly increasethe cost consumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipment ofthe transport request and when below decreases the cost consumed by thecarrier to transport the freight shipment of the transport request.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may reduce the rate to beoffered by the carrier to transport the freight shipment when the amountof transit days is below the transit threshold as the cost consumed bythe carrier is decreased sufficiently that the carrier is to beprofitable in transporting the transport request and may afford todecrease the rate offered for the transport request further while stillbeing profitable in transporting the transport request. However,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may refrain from reducing therate offered by the carrier to transport the freight shipment when theamount of transit days is above the transit threshold as the costconsumed by the carrier is not decreased sufficiently triggering thecarrier to have a reduced profitability in transporting the freightshipment of the transport request and may not sustain a decrease in therate offered for the transport request.

For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine thatthe transit threshold is 2 days. The transit days required to transportthe freight shipment of the transport request is 1 day which is belowthe transit threshold of 2 days. Intelligent pricing computing device190 may reduce the current rate offered by the carrier for the transportrequest to lower the current rate. In doing so, the carrier stilloperates with sufficient profitability due to the decreased costconsumed by the carrier in transporting the freight shipment of thetransport request in 1 day and may reduce the current rate offered forthe transport request to further incentivize the freight client to usethe carrier. In another example, the transit days required to transportthe freight shipment of the transport request is 3 days which is abovethe transit threshold of 2 days. Intelligent pricing computing device190 may then refrain from reducing the current rate offered by thecarrier for the transport request as the carrier is already consuming anincrease in cost due to the amount of transit days to transport thefreight shipment of the transport request being 3 days and cannot affordto further reduce the current rate offered to reduce the profitabilityin transporting the freight shipment even further.

Rate attributes also include dynamic tariffs that may be applied to thetransport requests of a specific freight client. Specific freightclients may have poor performance with regard to the relationship withthe carrier and the carrier may request the flexibility to increaseand/or decrease the rates that are offered to the transport requests ofthe poorly acting freight clients. Rather than automatically adjust thecurrent rate offered to the freight clients based on the rateattributes, shipment attributes and so on, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may instead dynamically adjust the rates offered to thepoorly acting freight clients based on the behavior of the poorly actingfreight clients. In doing so, the dynamic adjustment of rates byintelligent pricing computing device 190 is not based off of acontracted rate with the poorly acting freight clients but is rathersimply based off of the behavior of the poorly acting freight clients.As the behavior of the poorly acting freight clients improves,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may automatically reduce therates offered to the poorly acting freight clients for transportrequests. As the behavior of the poorly acting freight clients worsens,intelligent pricing computing device 190 may automatically increase therates offered to the poorly acting freight clients for transportrequests.

In step 340, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may apply inreal-time behavioral attributes to each transport request. As notedabove, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update and analyzein real-time attributes associated with each of the numerous requests totransport freight shipments as well as update and analyze in real-timecarrier attributes associated with each of the available transportationplatforms for each of the numerous carriers. A specific attribute thatmay be applied by intelligent pricing computing device 190 to each ofthe transport requests to further customize the pricing parameters foreach transport request is a behavioral attribute. Behavioral attributesmay be associated with past behavior of the freight client engaging thecarrier and enable intelligent pricing computing device 190 to furthercustomize the pricing parameters for each transport request based on thepast behavior of the freight client with the carrier.

The behavioral attributes associated with past behavior between thefreight client and the carrier may enable the carrier to furtherincentivize freight clients to utilize their available transportationplatforms. The behavioral attributes may provide insight as to thefrequency in which the freight clients utilize the availabletransportation platforms of the carrier and may be customized to theactual available transportation platform. For example, intelligentpricing computing device 190 may identify behavioral attributes such asthe amount of days that have lapsed since the freight client hasutilized the available transportation platform between Cincinnati andPittsburgh and thus offer an additional discount to entice the frightclient to utilize the available transportation platform betweenCincinnati and Pittsburgh. In doing so, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may identify behavioral attributes such as the overall amountof usage and frequency that a freight client engages a carrier but alsothe overall amount of usage and frequency that a freight client engagesan actual available transportation platform. The behavioral attributemay define the type of freight client that the carrier may request toengage in fulfilling transport requests from.

The behavioral attributes may also include the current pricingparameters that other carriers are offering for a specific availabletransportation platform and thus provide insight as to the currentpricing parameters that the competition to the carrier is offering totransport requests to utilize similar transportation platforms. Forexample, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may identifybehavioral attributes such as the current rate that other carriers areoffering to fulfill transport requests of Cincinnati to Pittsburgh inthe next 24 hours and thus offer an additional discount to be less thanthe current rates of the other carriers to entice the freight client toutilize the transportation platform of the carrier as opposed to that ofthe competing carriers. Behavioral attributes may include but are notlimited to overall frequency that a freight client engages a carrier,overall usage that a freight client engages a carrier, overall fees thata freight client pays to a carrier for transporting freight shipments,frequency that a freight client engages a specific transportationplatform of a carrier, overall usage that the freight client engages thespecific transportation platform of a carrier, fees that a freightclient pays to a carrier for transporting freight shipments via thespecific transportation platform, the current pricing parameters thatother carriers are offering to utilize similar transportation platforms,load density at pick-up, load density at delivery, line haul discountsbased on geography, payment terms/payment history, account activity,seasonal pricing, lane pricing by operating ratio, agent vs. shipper vs.third party logistics (3PLs), number of damage claims, number of missedpick-ups, number of reclassifications and/or any other type ofbehavioral attribute to further customize the pricing parameters for arequest to transport freight shipments by a freight client that will beapparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may update in real-time thebehavioral attributes associated with the carrier so that the pastbehavior of each freight client engaging the carrier is up to date inreal-time. As noted above, an immense amount of transport requests maybe submitted by an immense amount of freight clients to have fulfilledby an immense amount of carriers. A specific carrier may fulfillnumerous transport requests for a specific freight client in a giventime period and the frequency in fulfilling those transport requests maybe quite significant. For example, the carrier may fulfill severaltransport requests utilizing the transportation platform of a trucktransferring freight shipments from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in a givenday, week, month, year and so on. Further numerous carriers may also beoffering pricing parameters to execute transport requests for similartransportation platforms and those pricing parameters that are offeredmay be constantly fluctuating. For example, other competing carriers maybe offering pricing parameters that $3, $5, $10 apart from each other totransport freight shipments by truck from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh andthose pricing parameters may be fluctuating constantly as theavailability of the trucks from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh for thosecompeting carriers change. Thus, intelligent pricing computing device190 may update in real-time the behavioral parameters such that theprior behavior between each freight client and the carrier as well asthe current behavioral parameters of other carriers with regard tosimilar transportation platforms may be up to date as of the moment thatthe carrier is determining whether to fulfill transport requests.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then automatically apply inreal-time the shipment attributes to each freight shipment as eachfreight shipment is requested by each freight client. As noted above,past behavior between freight clients and the carrier may be occurringoften and may even occur right before the moment that the carrier is todetermine whether to fulfill transport requests as well as the pricingparameters offered by competing carriers for similar transportationplatforms constantly fluctuating. Intelligent pricing computing device190 may automatically apply each of the behavioral attributes to thenumerous transport requests in real-time such that intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may further customize pricing parameters for eachfreight client based on the updated past behavior between the carrierand the freight client as well as the updated pricing parameters offeredby competing carriers. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may thenprovide each integrated pricing package to each freight client thatincorporates the customized pricing parameters that are customized basedon the past behavior between each freight client and the carrier.

In an embodiment, an example of behavioral attributes may include theload density associated with a freight client. The load density is thethreshold of freight shipments that the carrier is to execute for aspecific location in a period of time in order to be profitable. Forexample, the load density for a freight client may be 4.5 in that thecarrier is required to transport 4.5 or more freight shipments to beprofitable. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determinea customized pricing parameter of an increased discount for eachtransport request that exceeds the load density of 4.5 from Cincinnatito Pittsburgh. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may alsoincorporate the frequency of transport requests over a period of timeinto the customized pricing parameter. For example, the load density fora freight client from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh may be a factor or 4.5 inthat the carrier is required to transport 4.5 or more freight shipmentsfrom Cincinnati to Pittsburgh over a 7-day period to be profitable.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine a customizedpricing parameter of an increased discount when the freight client hastransport requests that exceed 4.5 transport requests over a 7-dayperiod. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may also refrain fromapplying a customized pricing parameter to the first transport requestfor a location as there is decreased incentive for the carrier totransport the freight request at a discount for the first transportrequest but would then apply customized pricing parameters for eachtransport request following the first transport request that the carriercommits to.

For example, the behavioral attributes may include the paymentterms/payment history of the freight client. The payment terms/paymenthistory of the freight client may include whether the freight clientconsistently pays their bills from the carrier on-time as well as thepayment terms of the agreement between the carrier and the freightclient. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may evaluate thepayment history of the freight client and determine whether the paymenthistory of the client is above a payment threshold. The paymentthreshold is the amount of payments to the carrier that have been missedand/or late by the freight client to the carrier. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may reduce the rate to be offered by the carrier totransport the freight shipments of the transport requests requested bythe freight client when the amount of missed and/or late payments fromthe freight client to the carrier are below the payment threshold toreward the freight client for making their payments to the carrierpromptly. However, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may refrainfrom reducing the rate offered by the carrier to transport the freightshipments of the transport requests requested by the freight client whenthe amount of missed and/or late payments from the freight client to thecarrier are above the payment threshold to penalize the freight clientfor failing to make their payments to the carrier promptly.

Behavioral attributes may also include the agent versus shipper versus3PL that determines the type of freight client that the freight clientis classified. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may classify thefreight client as an agent, a shipper, and/or a 3PL. Based on theclassification, intelligent processing computing device 190 maydetermine whether to reduce the current rate offered by the carrier tothe freight client. For example, the carrier may already be compensatingthe freight client that is the agent with a commission and thereforeintelligent pricing computing device 190 may refrain from decreasing thecurrent rate offered to the agent by the carrier. In another example,the carrier may want to obtain as many transport requests as possiblefrom the freight clients that are shippers as shippers provide the mostprofitable transport requests and therefore intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may decrease the current rate offered to theshippers by the carrier. In another example, the carrier competesheavily with 3PLs who also attempt to pursue shippers for transportrequests and based on the competition with 3PLs the carrier may not wantto provide any decrease in the current rates with the 3PLs and thereforeintelligent pricing computing device 190 may refrain from decreasing thecurrent offered to the 3PLs by the carrier.

Behavioral attributes may also include the lane pricing by operatingratio of the transport request. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may determine the operating ratio for the transportation platform of thecarrier to execute the transport request for the freight client. Eachtransport request may have a cost associated with the transport requestthat the carrier is to consume for the transportation platform toexecute the transport request. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may determine the cost associated with the transport request that is thecarrier is consume for the transportation platform to execute thetransport request. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190may determine a cost that the carrier is to consume to transport thefreight shipment of the transport request and determine an operatingratio for the transport request in that the operating ratio is thepercentage of the rate that is charged to the freight client totransport the freight shipment of the transport request that is consumedas cost by the carrier.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine whether thetransport request satisfies the cost threshold. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may reduce the rate to be offered by the carrier totransport the freight shipment when the operating ratio is below thecost threshold as the cost consumed by the carrier is decreasedsufficiently that the carrier is to be profitable in transporting thetransport request and may afford to decrease the rate offered for thetransport request further while still being profitable in transportingthe transport request. However, intelligent pricing computing device 190may refrain from reducing the rate offered by the carrier to transportthe freight shipment when the operating ratio is above the costthreshold as the cost consumed by the carrier is not decreasedsufficiently triggering the carrier to have a reduced profitability intransporting the transport request and may not sustain a decrease in therate offered for the transport request.

In an embodiment, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinethe operating ratio based on the zip code of the destination that thefreight shipment of the transport request is to be transported. Specificdestination locations may have significantly different operating ratios.For example, the transporting of the freight shipment between Cincinnatiand Pittsburgh may have a decreased operating ratio in that there isdecreased cost for the carrier associated with transporting the freightshipment from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh due to the geographic locationsof Cincinnati and Pittsburgh as well as an increased opportunity to loadthe transportation platform on the back haul from Pittsburgh due toPittsburgh having an increased amount of manufacturing. In doing so, thecarrier has decreased cost consumed when transporting the freightshipment from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh and thus has an increasedprofitability when transporting the freight shipment from Cincinnati toPittsburgh.

In another example, the transporting of the freight shipment betweenCincinnati and Denver may have an increased operating ratio in thatthere is increased cost for the carrier associated with transporting thefreight shipment from Cincinnati to Denver due to the geographiclocations of Cincinnati and Denver as well as a decreased opportunity toload the transportation platform on the back haul from Denver due toDenver having a decreased amount of manufacturing and being remote fromother cities. In doing so, the carrier has increased cost consumed whentransporting the freight shipment from Cincinnati to Denver and thus hasa decreased profitability when transporting the freight shipment fromCincinnati to Denver.

For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine thatthe operating ratio to transport the freight shipment of the transportrequest from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh based on the zip code ofPittsburgh triggers a cost that is consumed by the carrier to transportthe freight shipment that is 85% of the current rate offered by thecarrier for the transport request. The cost threshold is 90% such that85% is significantly below the cost threshold. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then reduce the current rate offered by thecarrier for the transport request to lower the current rate such thatthe cost consumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipment fromCincinnati to Pittsburgh increases from 85% to 90%. In doing so, thecarrier still operates with 10% profitability in transporting thefreight shipment but may reduce the current rate offered for thetransport request from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to further incentivizethe freight client to use the carrier.

In another example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maydetermine that the operating ratio to transport the freight shipment ofthe transport request from Cincinnati to Denver based on the zip code ofDenver triggers a cost that is consumed by the carrier to transport thefreight shipment that is 96% of the current rate offered by the carrierfor the transport request. The 96% is above the cost threshold of 92%.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then refrain from reducingthe current rate offered by the carrier for the transport request as thecarrier is already operating at 4% profitability in transporting thefreight shipment and cannot afford to further reduce the current rateoffered to reduce the profitability in transporting the freight shipmenteven further.

Behavioral attributes may also include the quantity of damage claimsassociated with the freight client. The damage claims that freightclients declare originate from any type of damage to the freightshipment from when the transportation platform of the carrier initiallypicked up the freight shipment at the pick-up location and thendelivered the freight shipment to the delivery location. After thefreight shipment is delivered at the delivery location, the freightclient may evaluate the freight shipment to determine if there is anydamage to the freight shipment. If there is such damage determined bythe freight client, the freight client may initiate a damage claim whichindicates to the carrier the amount of damage that occurred during thetransport of the freight shipment such that the carrier is liable forsuch damage to the freight shipment. Such an evaluation of damage to thefreight shipment by the freight client triggering the carrier to beliable is a subjective operation based purely on the subjectiveevaluation by the freight client. Thus, whether damage did occur as wellas the cost estimation of the damage that the carrier is liable for isbased on the subjective evaluation of the freight client.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine whether thequantity of damage claims reported by a freight client satisfies adamage claim threshold. The damage claim threshold is the amount ofdamage claims that when above may result in such an increase in costconsumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipments for thefreight client that based on the cost consumed by the carrier toaccommodate the freight claims reported by the freight client that theprofitability of transporting freight shipments for the freight carrieris significantly decreased. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayreduce the rate to be offered by the carrier to transport freightshipments for the freight client when the amount of damage claims isbelow the damage claim threshold. However, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may refrain from reducing the rate offered by the carrier totransport the freight shipment when the quantity of damage claims isabove the damage claim threshold as the cost consumed by the carrier fordamage claims reported by the client is increased that reducesprofitability in transporting freight shipments for the freight clientand may not sustain a decrease in the rate offered for the transportrequest.

Behavioral attributes may also include the quantity reclassificationsassociated with the freight client. Each freight shipment that a freightclient generates a transport request for indicates the classification ofthe freight shipment. Each freight shipment is classified based on theease and/or favorability to be transported by the transportationplatform of the carrier. The increase in ease and/or favorabilitydecreases the cost that is consumed by the carrier to transport thefreight shipment while the difficulty and/or lack of favorabilityincreases the cost that is consumed by the carrier to transport thefreight shipment. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may thendetermine the rate to transport the freight shipment for the freightclient based on the classification provided by the freight client. Aclassification of the freight shipment that has an increase in easeand/or favorability may trigger intelligent pricing computing device 190to generate a decreased rate for the freight shipment as the ease and/orfavorability of the freight shipment decreases the cost that is consumedby the carrier thereby enabling the carrier to sustain a decreased rateto transport the freight shipment. However, a classification of thefreight shipment that has an increase in difficulty and/or lack offavorability may trigger intelligent pricing computing device 190 togenerate an increased rate for the freight shipment as the difficultyand/or lack of favorability of the freight shipment increases the costthat is consumed by the carrier thereby preventing the carrier fromsustaining a decreased rate to transport the freight shipment.

Often times, the freight client may misclassify the freight shipmenteither intentionally and/or unintentionally. Each time that the freightshipment is misclassified by the freight client, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may generate a decreased rate for the freightshipment that has been misclassified by the freight client as being ofincreased ease and/or favorability. However, after transporting thefreight shipment, the proper classification of the freight shipment isactually of increased difficulty and/or lack of favorability andtherefore triggered an increased cost consumed by the carrier triggeringa significant decrease in profitability for the carrier as the freightclient was incorrectly offered a decreased rate due to themisclassification of the freight shipment provided by the freightclient.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine whether thereclassification of freight shipments for a freight client satisfies areclassification threshold. The reclassification threshold is the amountof reclassifications that when above may result in an increase costconsumed by the carrier to transport the freight shipments for thefreight client based on the cost consumed by the carrier to accommodatethe misclassifications provided by the freight client that theprofitability of transporting freight shipments for the freight carrieris significantly decreased. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayreduce the rate offered by the carrier to transport freight shipmentsfor the freight client when the amount of reclassifications is below thereclassification threshold. However, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may refrain from reducing the rate offered by the carrier totransport the freight shipment when the quantity of reclassifications isabove the reclassification threshold as the cost consumed by the carrierfor misclassifications reported by the freight client is increased thatreduces the profitability in transporting freight shipments for thefreight client and may not sustain a decrease in the rate offered forthe transport request.

In an embodiment, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinea value for each of the behavioral attributes in which the value isrelated to whether the behavioral attribute for a specific freightclient is favorable to the carrier or unfavorable. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then automatically adjust the rate that isgenerated for the freight client based on the value for each behavioralattribute that is determined by intelligent pricing computing device190. For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayautomatically adjust the rate that is generated for the freight clientbased on the reclassification of freight shipments behavioral attributeof the freight client. Depending on whether the reclassification offreight shipment behavioral attribute for the freight client positivelyand/or negatively impacts the cost absorbed by the carrier fortransporting freight shipments for the freight client based onreclassification, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinethe value of the reclassification of freight shipment accordingly forthe freight client. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may thenautomatically adjust the rate for the freight client based on the valuefor the reclassification of freight shipment attribute for the freightclient.

In an embodiment as shown in intelligent pricing system 500 in FIG. 5,each of the behavioral attributes 540 may be applied to each of thetransport requests to determine whether each of the transport requestsqualify for customized pricing parameters based on the behavioralattributes 540. In an example embodiment, step 340 may be performed byprocessor 195 of intelligent pricing computing device 190 as shown inFIG. 1.

In addition to applying each of behavioral attributes 540 to each of thetransport requests to determine whether the transport requests satisfybehavioral attributes 540, intelligent processing computing device 190may also apply shipper location attributes. Shipper location attributesmay be associated with the location that the freight client requests tohave the freight shipment shipped and/or delivered. For example, thefreight client has a transport request such that requires that thefreight shipment be delivered to a college campus by a semi-truck andtrailer. The shipper location attributes may enable the carrier toadjust the pricing of transport requests based on the location that thefreight shipment is to be delivered. In such an example, intelligentpricing computing device 190 may adjust the integrated pricing packageapplied to the transport requests for the semi-truck and trailer toincorporate the shipper location attributes. Shipper location attributesmay include but are not limited to the each of access and/or limitedaccess, distance from the terminal, historical detention times, pick-uptime and/or any other shipper location attribute that will be apparentto those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from thespirit and scope of the present disclosure.

For example, shipper location attributes may include the historicaldetention time that is associated with the location of the freightclient that the freight shipment is to be delivered. Each freightshipment is to be delivered to a location. The decrease in the amount oftime that the transportation platform is detained at the deliverylocation after the transport request arrives at the delivery location todeliver the freight shipment decreases the cost that is consumed by thecarrier to transport the freight shipment while the increase in theamount of time that the transportation platform is detained at thedelivery location increases the cost that is consumed by the carrier totransport the freight shipment. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may then determine the rate to transport the freight shipment for thefreight client based on the amount of time that the transportationplatform is historically detained at the delivery location. A deliverylocation that has a decrease in the amount of detention time may triggerintelligent pricing computing device 190 to generate a decreased ratefor the freight shipment as the decreased amount of time that thetransportation platform is detained at the delivery location decreasesthe cost that is consumed by the carrier thereby enabling the carrier tosustain a decreased rate to transport the freight shipment. However, adelivery location with historical increased detention times may triggerintelligent pricing computing device 190 to generate an increased ratefor the freight shipment as the increased amount of detention timeincreases the cost that is consumed by the carrier thereby preventingthe carrier from sustaining a decreased rate to transport the freightshipment.

For example, shipper location attributes may also include the pick-uptime that is associated with the time during the day that the freightclient requests that the freight shipment is to be picked-up at thepick-up location. The later in the business day that the transportationplatform is to pick-up the freight shipment the more difficult for thecarrier to utilize the transportation platform for transporting othertransport requests for other freight shipments. In doing so, thetransportation platform is essentially committed exclusively to thetransportation of the freight shipment that is scheduled later in thebusiness day due to the lack of flexibility in the day to commit thetransportation platform to transporting other freight shipments. Theearlier in the business day that the freight shipment is available to bepicked-up increases the likelihood that the transportation platform maybe committed to transporting additional freight shipments of additionaltransport requests.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then determine the rate totransport the freight shipment for the freight client based on the timeduring the business day that the freight shipment is to be picked up. Apick-up time that is scheduled earlier in the business day has anincreased likelihood that the transportation platform may be committedto the transport of additional freight shipments of additional transportrequests and may trigger intelligent pricing computing device 190 togenerate a decreased rate for the freight shipment as the likelihoodthat the transportation platform may be committed to transportingadditional freight shipments increases. However, a pick-up time that isscheduled later in the business day decreases the likelihood that thetransportation platform may be committed to transporting additionalfreight shipments for additional transport requests and may triggerintelligent pricing computing device 190 to generate an increased ratefor the freight shipment as the likelihood that the transportationplatform may be committed to transporting additional freight shipmentsdecreases.

In an embodiment, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinea value for each of the shipper location attributes in which the valueis related to whether the shipper location attribute for a specificfreight client is favorable to the carrier or unfavorable. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may then automatically adjust the rate thatis generated for the freight client based on the value for each shipperlocation attribute that is determined by intelligent pricing computingdevice 190. For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 mayautomatically adjust the rate that is generated for the freight clientbased on the pick-up time of the freight shipment attribute of thefreight client. Depending on whether the pick-up time of the shipperlocation attribute for the freight client positively and/or negativelyimpacts the cost absorbed by the carrier for transporting freightshipments for the freight client based on pick-up time, intelligentpricing computing device 190 may determine the value of the pick-up timeof the freight shipment accordingly for the freight client. Intelligentpricing computing device 190 may then automatically adjust the rate forthe freight client based on the value of the pick-up time of the freightshipment attribute for the freight client.

After the shipment attributes and the behavioral attributes have beenapplied to each transport request, in step 350, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may analyze the customized pricing parameters todetermine whether the integrated pricing package parameters aresatisfied. Each of the requests to transport freight shipments maysatisfy multiple shipment attributes and behavioral attributes. However,generating customized pricing parameters for the transport request thatincorporates each of the different shipment attributes and behavioralattributes that are satisfied by the transport request may result in anintegrated pricing package for the transport request that is notbeneficial to the carrier if the carrier were to execute the transportrequest with the integrated pricing package. For example, the transportrequest in satisfying multiple shipment attributes and behavioralattributes may qualify for multiple different discounts. However, inoffering an integrated pricing package to execute the transport requestthat incorporates the multiple discounts may result in the carrierhaving a significant decrease in profitability in executing thetransport request due to the multiple discounts.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may assess customized pricingparameters that are generated for each freight shipment to determinewhether the customized pricing parameters satisfy an integrated pricingpackage threshold for each freight shipment such that intelligentpricing computing device 190 may prevent the integrated pricing packagefrom decreasing below the integrated pricing package threshold. Theintegrated pricing package threshold is a threshold in which theintegrated pricing package that incorporates the customized pricingparameters is to satisfy in order for the execution of the transportrequest by the carrier to be worthwhile. An integrated pricing packagethat includes customized pricing parameters that exceed the integratedpricing package threshold may be worthwhile for the carrier to executethe transport request based on the integrated pricing package. Anintegrated pricing package that includes customized pricing parametersthat fall below the integrated pricing package threshold may not beworthwhile for the carrier to execute the transport request based on theintegrated pricing package.

For example, a transport request satisfies the shipment attribute ofhaving to be transported from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh and qualifies forthe customized pricing parameter of a 3% discount and also satisfies thebehavioral attribute of being the second shipment of the day that thecarrier may transport for the freight client and qualifies for a 2%discount. An integrated pricing package that includes both the 2%discount and the 3% discount may result in falling below the integratedpricing package threshold in that the carrier may have a significantlydecreased profit if the carrier executes the transport request with theboth the 3% discount and the 2% discount.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may analyze the customizedpricing parameters that are generated for each freight shipment todetermine whether each customized pricing parameter satisfies theintegrated pricing package parameters that are applied to each freightshipment. In doing so, intelligent pricing computing device 190 maydetermine whether each customized pricing parameter is to beincorporated into the integrated pricing package for each shipment whenthe customized pricing parameters fail to satisfy the integrated pricingpackage threshold. Integrated pricing package parameters are parametersthat when applied to the customized pricing parameters determine whichcustomized pricing parameters should be incorporated into the integratedpricing package and which customized pricing parameters should beremoved from the integrated pricing package such that the integratedpricing package that is offered to the freight client satisfies theintegrated pricing package threshold.

For example, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine thatan integrated pricing package includes the customized pricing parametersof a first discount and a second discount results in the integratedpricing package falling below the integrated pricing package threshold.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then apply an integratedpricing parameter of a first discount should be incorporated into theintegrated pricing package while a second discount should not beincorporated into the integrated pricing package. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may then generate integrated pricing package thatincludes the first discount but not the second discount such that theintegrated pricing package satisfies the integrated pricing packagethreshold and results in the carrier achieving increased profitabilityin executed the transport request.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may integrate each customizedpricing parameter that satisfies each integrated pricing packageparameter for each freight shipment into the integrated pricing packagefor each corresponding freight client. Intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may withhold each customized pricing parameter that fails tosatisfy each integrated pricing parameter for each freight shipment fromthe integrated pricing package for each corresponding freight client.Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide each integratedpricing package to each freight client that incorporates the customizedpricing parameters that satisfy each integrated pricing parameter foreach freight shipment.

Thus, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may generate anintegrated pricing package for each transport request that not onlysatisfies the shipment attributes and the behavioral attributes of theavailable transportation platform for the carrier but is also customizedsuch that the integrated pricing package provides profitability for thecarrier when executing the transport request. As noted above, thecarrier may have numerous transportation platforms that are availablewith the availability constantly fluctuating and may have an immenseamount of transport requests that may qualify to be transported by thosenumerous transportation platforms. Rather than the carrier having toevaluate each of the immense amount of integrated pricing packages todetermine whether the integrated pricing packages would be profitable tothe carrier if applied to the transport requests, intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may further customize the integrated pricingpackages to ensure that the integrated pricing packages are profitablefor the carrier without any intervention by the carrier.

In an embodiment a shown in intelligent pricing system 500 in FIG. 5,each of the integrated pricing package parameters 550 may be applied toeach of the customized pricing parameters to determine whether thecustomized pricing parameters satisfy the integrated pricing packagethreshold and should be included in the integrated pricing package. Inan example embodiment, step 350 may be performed by processor 195 ofintelligent pricing computing device 190 as shown in FIG. 1.

After the integrated pricing package parameters have been applied to thecustomized pricing parameters, in step 360, intelligent pricingcomputing device 360 may generate the integrated pricing package. Asnoted above, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine acurrent pricing package that exists between each freight client and thecarrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may then adjust thecurrent pricing package by injecting the customized pricing parametersthat are customized to each freight shipment based on the real-timeupdate and analysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes into eachcurrent pricing package. In doing so, intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 may generate each integrated pricing package by adjustingeach current pricing package to incorporate the customized pricingparameters. In an example embodiment, step 360 may be performed byprocessor 195 of intelligent pricing computing device 190 as shown inFIG. 1.

In step 370, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determinewhether the carrier identification for the integrated pricing packagereconciles with the carrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190may generate a carrier identification for each integrated pricingpackage. The carrier identification is unique to the carrier that istransporting each freight shipment that is associated with eachintegrated pricing package. For example, the carrier identification maybe a unique quote identification that is unique to the quote associatedwith the integrated pricing package for the transport request.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may determine whether thecarrier identification for each integrated pricing package reconcileswith the carrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may applyeach integrated pricing package to each freight shipment when thecarrier identification for each integrated pricing package reconcileswith the carrier. Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may apply thecurrent pricking package that exists between each freight client and thecarrier when the carrier identification for each pricing package failsto reconcile with the carrier.

In an embodiment as shown in intelligent pricing system 500 in FIG. 5,each carrier identification 560 may be applied to each integratedpricing package to determine whether the carrier identificationreconciles with the carrier. In an example embodiment, step 360 may beperformed by processor 195 of intelligent pricing computing device 190as shown in FIG. 1.

In step 380, intelligent pricing computing device 190 may provide theintegrated pricing package to the freight client. Intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 may provide each of the integrated pricing packagesto each corresponding freight client computing device 140 such that eachof the integrated pricing packages may be easily displayed to each ofthe freight clients via user interface 170. In an example embodiment,step 370 may be performed by processor 195 of intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 as shown in FIG. 1.

Intelligent pricing computing device 190 may continuously streamintelligent pricing data to intelligent pricing server 150 such thatintelligent pricing server may accumulate intelligent pricing data asstored in carrier attribute database 185, carrier database 120, and/orfreight client database 160. In doing so, intelligent pricing server maycontinuously accumulate intelligent pricing data that is associated theautomatic adjustments of the rates generated by intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 based on the numerous shipment attributes, rateattributes, behavioral attributes, and/or shipper location attributesthat intelligent pricing computing device 190 may incorporate intodetermining the rate for each of the numerous transport requestsgenerated by each of the numerous freight clients. Over time as theplant data accumulated by intelligent pricing server 150 continues toincrease, neural network 105 may then apply a neural network algorithmsuch as but not limited to a multilayer perceptron (MLP), a restrictedBoltzmann Machine (RBM), a convolution neural network (CNN), and/or anyother neural network algorithm that will be apparent to those skilled inthe relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

Each time that intelligent pricing data is streamed to intelligentpricing server 140 neural network 105 may then assist intelligentpricing computing device 190 by providing intelligent pricing computingdevice 190 with the appropriate rate adjustments with regard to theappropriate shipment attributes, rate attributes, behavioral attributes,and/or shipper location attributes to automatically adjust the rate forthe specific transport request as requested by the specific freightclient based on the increased amount of intelligent pricing data storedin intelligent pricing server 140. Neural network 105 may assistintelligent pricing computing device 190 in learning as to theappropriate rate adjustments to execute based on the shipmentattributes, rate attributes, behavioral attributes, and/or shipperlocation attributes that is associated with a specific transport requestfor a specific freight client such that neural network 105 may furtherimprove the accuracy of intelligent pricing computing device 190 inautomatically adjusting the rate for each transport request of eachfreight client to further enhance the rate applied to each transportrequest in real-time. Neural network 105 may provide intelligent pricingcomputing device 190 with improved accuracy in automatically adjustingthe rates such that neural network 105 may continue to learn upon withthe accumulation of intelligent pricing data that is provided byintelligent pricing computing device 195 and/or any computing deviceassociated with intelligent pricing system 100 to intelligent pricingserver 150. Thus, the profitability of the carrier may be furtherenhanced to ensure that the carrier incentivizes the appropriate freightclients to award the transport requests to the carrier when the carrieris to be impacted with a decrease cost when executing the transportrequests while refraining from offering decreased rates for transportrequests when the carrier is to be impacted with an increase cost whenexecuting the transport requests.

Intelligent pricing server 150 includes a processor, a memory, and anetwork interface, herein after referred to as a computing device orsimply “computer”. For example, intelligent pricing server 150 mayinclude a data information system, data management system, web server,and/or file transfer server. Intelligent pricing server 150 may also bea workstation, mobile device, computer, cluster of computers, set-topbox, a cloud server or other computing device. In an embodiment,multiple modules may be implemented on the same computing device. Such acomputing device may include software, firmware, hardware, or acombination thereof. Software may include one or more applications on anoperating system. Hardware can include, but is not limited to, aprocessor, memory, and/or graphical user interface display.

CONCLUSION

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and notthe Abstract section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims.The Abstract section may set forth one or more, but not all exemplaryembodiments, of the present disclosure, and thus, is not intended tolimit the present disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

The present disclosure has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specifiedfunctions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functionalbuilding blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenienceof the description. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) the variouschanges in form and detail can be made without departing from the spirtand scope of the present disclosure. Thus the present disclosure shouldnot be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, butshould be defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for generating an integrated pricingpackage that incorporates attributes associated with a freight shipmentthat are updated and analyzed in real-time to provide a plurality ofcustomized pricing parameters included in the integrated pricingpackage, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory coupled withthe at least one processor, the memory including instructions that, whenexecuted by the at least one processor cause the at least one processorto: receive a plurality of requests from a plurality of freight clientsto generate the integrated pricing package for each request;continuously stream intelligent pricing data to a server as theintelligent pricing data continuously fluctuates as captured in acarrier attribute database, a carrier database, and a freight clientdatabase; automatically receive updated intelligent pricing data that iscontinuously trained on by a neural network based on machine learning asthe neural network continuously updates the intelligent pricing databased on past intelligent pricing data generated from past freightshipments; update in real-time a plurality of carrier attributesassociated with a carrier that is transporting each freight shipment foreach freight client, wherein the carrier attributes are associated witheach different transportation platform provided by the carrier andfluctuate depending on an availability of each different transportationplatform; analyze in real-time the plurality of carrier attributesassociated with the carrier to determine the carrier attributes thatapply to each freight shipment requested by each freight client totransport by the carrier, wherein real-time for the plurality of carrierattributes is a current state of the plurality of carrier attributes ascaptured in the carrier attribute database, the carrier database, andthe freight client database and streamed to the server; continuouslystream the plurality of carrier attributes, as the carrier attributescontinuously fluctuate depending on the availability of each differenttransportation platform and as the carrier attributes are accumulated inthe carrier attribute database, to the server; generate the plurality ofcustomized pricing parameters for each freight shipment by integratingthe updated intelligent pricing data as received from the neural networkwith the carrier attributes that apply to each freight shipment, whereinthe customized pricing parameters are customized to each freightshipment based on the real-time update and analysis of the fluctuatingcarrier attributes and the updated intelligent pricing data that applyto each freight shipment; determine a current pricing package thatexists between each freight client and the carrier, wherein the currentpricing package is a standard pricing package between each freightclient and the carrier that is not adjusted based on the plurality ofcustomized pricing parameters; automatically receive a plurality ofcustomized adjustments to the customized pricing parameters as generatedby the neural network based on the continuous training of the neuralnetwork by machine learning, as the neural network continuously updatesthe intelligent pricing data based on past intelligent pricing datagenerated from past freight shipments due to the continuous stream ofintelligent pricing data in real-time to the server; adjust the currentpricing package by injecting the customized pricing parameters, with thecustomized adjustments that are customized to each freight shipmentbased on the real-time update and analysis by the neural network of thefluctuating intelligent pricing data and carrier attributes, into eachcurrent pricing package; generate each integrated pricing package byadjusting each current pricing package to incorporate the customizedpricing parameters; provide each integrated pricing package to eachfreight client that incorporates the customized pricing parameters thatare customized to each freight shipment; and stream the intelligentpricing data included in the generated integrated pricing package to theserver for the neural network to incorporate into the customizedadjustments to additional customized pricing parameters for additionalpricing packages as past intelligent pricing data.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of carrier attributes for with thecarrier that is transporting each freight shipment includes a pluralityof shipment attributes that is associated with each of the differenttransport platforms provided by the carrier and a plurality ofbehavioral attributes that is associated with past behavior of eachfreight client engaging the carrier.
 3. The system of claim 2, whereinthe processor is further configured to: update in real-time theplurality of shipment attributes associated with the carrier, whereineach of the shipment attributes provide a different constraint todetermine whether a freight shipment qualifies for a correspondingintegrated pricing package; automatically apply in real-time each of theshipment attributes to each freight shipment as each freight shipment isrequested by each freight client; and determine in real-time whethereach freight shipment qualifies for the corresponding integrated pricingpackage based on whether each freight shipment satisfies each of theshipment attributes.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: update in real-time the plurality ofbehavioral attributes associated with the carrier so that the pastbehavior of each freight client engaging the carrier is up to date inreal-time; analyze in real-time the plurality of behavioral attributesto determine the plurality of customized pricing parameters to beincorporated into the corresponding integrated pricing package for eachfreight client based on the past behavior between each freight clientand the carrier; and provide each integrated pricing package to eachfreight client that incorporates the customized pricing parameters thatare customized based on the past behavior between each freight clientand the carrier.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: assess the plurality of customizedpricing parameters that is generated for each corresponding freightshipment to determine whether the plurality of customized pricingparameters satisfy an integrated pricing package threshold for eachfreight shipment, wherein the integrated pricing package is preventedfrom decreasing below the integrated pricing package threshold.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to: analyze the plurality of customized pricing parametersthat is generated for each freight shipment to determine whether eachcustomized pricing parameter satisfies a plurality of integrated pricingpackage parameters applied to each freight shipment to determine whethereach customized pricing parameter is to be incorporated into theintegrated pricing package for each freight shipment when the pluralityof customized pricing parameters fail to satisfy the integrated pricingpackage threshold.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: integrate each customized pricingparameter that satisfies each integrated pricing package parameter foreach freight shipment into the integrated pricing package for eachcorresponding freight client; withhold each customized pricing parameterthat fails to satisfy each integrated pricing package parameter for eachfreight shipment from the integrated pricing package for eachcorresponding freight client; and provide each integrated pricingpackage to each freight client that incorporates the customized pricingparameters that satisfy each integrated pricing package parameter foreach freight shipment.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at leastone processor is further configured to: generate a carrieridentification for each integrated pricing package, wherein the carrieridentification is unique to the carrier that is transporting eachfreight shipment that is associated with each integrated pricingpackage.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to: determine whether the carrier identification foreach integrated pricing package reconciles with the carrier; apply eachintegrated pricing package to each freight shipment when the carrieridentification for each integrated pricing package reconciles with thecarrier; and apply the current pricing package that exists between eachfreight client and the carrier when the carrier identification for eachintegrated pricing package fails to reconcile with the carrier.
 10. Amethod for generating an integrated pricing package that incorporatesattributes associated with a freight shipment that are updated andanalyzed in real-time to provide a plurality of customized pricingparameters included in the integrated pricing package, comprising:receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of freight clients togenerate the integrated pricing package for each request; continuouslystreaming intelligent pricing data to a server as the intelligentpricing data continuously fluctuates as captured in a carrier attributedatabase, a carrier database, and a freight client database;automatically receiving updated intelligent pricing data that iscontinuously trained on by a neural network that is executed on acomputing system comprising computing hardware, based on machinelearning as the neural network continuously updates the intelligentpricing data based on past intelligent pricing data generated from pastfreight shipments; updating in real-time a plurality of carrierattributes associated with a carrier that is transporting each freightshipment for each freight client, wherein the carrier attributes areassociated with each different transportation platform provided by thecarrier and fluctuate depending on an availability of each differenttransportation platform; analyzing in real-time the plurality of carrierattributes associated with the carrier to determine the carrierattributes that apply to each freight shipment requested by each freightclient to transport by the carrier, wherein real-time for the pluralityof carrier attributes is a current state of the plurality of carrierattributes as captured in the carrier attribute database, the carrierdatabase, and the freight client database and streamed to the server;continuously streaming the plurality of carrier attributes, as thecarrier attributes continuously fluctuate depending on the availabilityof each different transportation platform and as the carrier attributesare accumulated in the carrier attribute database, to the server;generating the plurality of customized pricing parameters for eachfreight shipment by integrating the updated intelligent pricing data asreceived from the neural network with the carrier attributes that applyto each freight shipment, wherein the customized pricing parameters arecustomized to each freight shipment based on the real-time update andanalysis of the fluctuating carrier attributes and the updatedintelligent pricing data that apply to each freight shipment;determining a current pricing package that exists between each freightclient and the carrier, wherein the current pricing package is astandard pricing package between each freight client and the carrierthat is not adjusted based on the plurality of customized pricingparameters; automatically receiving a plurality of customizedadjustments to the customized pricing parameters as generated by theneural network based on the continuous training of the neural network bymachine learning, as the neural network continuously updates theintelligent pricing data based on past intelligent pricing datagenerated from past freight shipments due to continuous streaming ofintelligent pricing data in real-time to the server; adjusting thecurrent pricing package by injecting the customized pricing parameters,with the customized adjustments that are customized to each freightshipment based on the real-time update and analysis by the neuralnetwork of the fluctuating intelligent pricing data and carrierattributes, into each current pricing package; generating eachintegrated pricing package by adjusting each current pricing package toincorporate the customized pricing parameters; providing each integratedpricing package to each freight client that incorporates the customizedpricing parameters that are customized to each freight shipment; andstreaming the intelligent pricing data included in the generatedintegrated pricing package to the server for the neural network toincorporate into the customized adjustments to additional customizedpricing parameters for additional pricing packages as past intelligentpricing data.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality ofcarrier attributes for with the carrier that is transporting eachfreight shipment includes a plurality of shipment attributes that isassociated with each of the different travel platforms provided by thecarrier and a plurality of behavioral attributes that is associated withpast behavior of each freight client engaging the carrier.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising: updating in real-time theplurality of shipment attributes associated with the carrier, whereineach of the shipment attributes provide a different constraint todetermine whether a freight shipment qualifies for a correspondingintegrated pricing package; automatically applying in real-time each ofthe shipment attributes to each freight shipment as each freightshipment is requested by each freight client; and determining inreal-time whether each freight shipment qualifies for the correspondingintegrated pricing package based on whether each freight shipmentsatisfies each of the shipment attributes.
 13. The method of claim 11,further comprising: updating in real-time the plurality of behavioralattributes associated with the carrier so that the past behavior of eachfreight client engaging the carrier is up to date in real-time;analyzing in real-time the plurality of behavioral attributes todetermine the plurality of customized pricing parameters to beincorporated into the corresponding integrated pricing package for eachfreight client based on the past behavior between each freight clientand the carrier; and provide each integrated pricing package to eachfreight client that incorporates the customized pricing parameters thatare customized based on the past behavior between each freight clientand the carrier.
 14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:assessing the plurality of customized pricing parameters that isgenerated for each corresponding freight shipment to determine whetherthe plurality of customized pricing parameters satisfies an integratedpricing package threshold for each freight shipment, wherein theintegrated pricing package is prevented from decreasing below theintegrated pricing package threshold.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising: analyzing the plurality of customized pricingparameters that is generated for each freight shipment to determinewhether each customized pricing parameter satisfies a plurality ofintegrated pricing package parameters applied to each freight shipmentto determine whether each customized pricing parameter is to beincorporated into the integrated pricing package for each freightshipment when the plurality of customized pricing parameters fail tosatisfy the integrated pricing package threshold.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising: integrating each customized pricingparameter that satisfies each integrated pricing package parameter foreach freight shipment into the integrated pricing package for eachcorresponding freight client; withholding each customized pricingparameter that fails to satisfy each integrated pricing parameter foreach freight shipment from the integrated pricing package for eachcorresponding freight client; and providing each integrated pricingpackage to each freight client that incorporates the customized pricingparameters that satisfy each integrated pricing package parameter foreach freight shipment.
 17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:generating a carrier identification for each integrated pricing package,wherein the carrier identification is unique to the carrier that istransporting each freight shipment that is associated with eachintegrated pricing package.
 18. The method of claim 17, furthercomprising: determining whether the carrier identification for eachintegrated pricing package reconciles with the carrier; applying eachintegrated pricing package to each freight shipment when the carrieridentification for each integrated pricing package reconciles with thecarrier; and applying the current pricing package that exists betweeneach freight client and the carrier when the carrier identification foreach integrated pricing package fails to reconcile with the carrier.